Together Forever?
by The Steppy One
Summary: A messed up potion, some unwanted side effects and a 'situation' they really could do without. HermioneRon centric and Lavender of course!
1. Chapter 1

**He he, a little earlier than I thought, but I promised myself I could post this when I'd finished the next chapter of Heartfelt Dream, and I did, so it's here!**

**This one is set during 'Half Blood Prince' after Christmas. I've had a bit of fun with it and I intend to keep it quite humerous, although there will be a bit of angst in it at some point, I can't help it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, apart from a car:D but that's got nothing to do with Harry Potter, I'm not pretending I own Harry Potter either...I wish. Anything you recognise isn't mine.**

**Please read and review :D**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 1

It was cold down in the dungeon. Despite Professor Slughorn's attempts to keep his classroom warm, there was nothing that could stop the draft that just happened to whip around the table, which held the cauldrons of three Gryffindors and one Hufflepuff.

Harry, Hermione and Ron were bent over their cauldrons in their first NEWT Potions lesson of the New Year. The potion they were brewing today was Amortentia, a notorious potion, and a ridiculously fiddly potion that was very hard to brew. Not that Harry was worried, he had the Prince's trusty textbook to look at and this would help him through the lesson.

Hermione was frantically reading and re-reading the instructions to make sure her potion was perfect, and, as she came close to adding her final three ingredients, it was. She was ignoring Ron, who was huffing and puffing as he tried to follow the instructions to the letter. However, he was huffing and puffing for another reason too; Harry had sat himself next to Ernie Macmillan on one side of the table, forcing Ron and Hermione next to each other opposite him. He had received glares from both of them but he didn't care, he was desperate. He hated being stuck in the middle of the two of them. He wasn't sure which he preferred, them arguing and bickering constantly, or totally ignoring each other.

In all honesty Harry's plan wasn't a good one. During lessons Hermione was hardly one to give anything but her work her attention, and in his current mood, Ron was _not_ likely to ask Hermione for help, even if he needed it.

Harry added his neatly cut Forget-Me-Not roots to his potion and he instantly knew something was wrong; the potion hissed and started to bubble. He frantically tried to find the line of the instructions he had just followed and when he did his eyes widened. He had added four whole roots to his potion as opposed to four inches of one root.

'Uh oh!'

His mumblings brought Hermione and Ron from their work and they looked at Harry's cauldron; eyes widening as the bubbling increased and the hissing got louder. As the potion gave a particularly loud hiss Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her below the table, Harry and Ernie ducked at the same time.

'Oww!' Hermione exclaimed as her head hit the edge of the table. 'Ron that hurt! What did you do that for?'

'Oh I'm sorry for trying to make sure you didn't get hit by _exploding potion_. I won't bother next time.'

'I think you'll find, Ronald, that nothing has _exploded_. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my cauldron!'

Ron let out a grunt in frustration as the two of them stood up.

Harry and Ernie were nervously peering over the edge of the table, seeing if the coast was clear. Cautiously they stood up and Harry peered into his cauldron.

'Well, I think I can safely say I messed this one up. Ah well, I never really suited the position of teacher's pet did I?'

Hermione glared at him over her cauldron. She reached down to her right and took hold of what she thought was going to be her silver knife, but it wasn't; it was Ron's hand. She quickly looked at her hand and then at Ron, he did exactly the same. Before either of them could react, however, Harry swore loudly.

'DUCK!' he shouted.

Ernie and Harry managed to get under the table before the potion erupted volcano like from the cauldron. Ron and Hermione, however, were still in a slight state of shock from their previous encounter and didn't manage to move out of the way. Potion covered them and both of them managed to swallow a mouthful of the bright blue liquid.

'Eurgh!' Ron exclaimed, 'That tasted _foul_!' He coughed trying to get the fumes out of his lungs.

Hermione shuddered as the full impact of the taste hit her. A wave of nausea flowed over her and she clamped her hands to her mouth. It soon passed though, and she replaced them at her side.

Harry stood up and looked sheepishly around at the scene.

'Er…sorry,' he said quietly.

'Sorry! _Sorry!_' Hermione screeched. 'I've just swallowed a mouthful of a half made potion, which was not only half finished but has not been left to stand for however long it needs, and all you can say is you're _sorry_!'

'Now now, dear, there's no need to get hysterical! I'm sure it was an accident,' Slughorn said calmly as he waddled over from the other side of the room. 'This is easily cleaned up,' he waved his wand and the potion disappeared from Hermione and Ron. 'Well now, the lesson was nearly finished and I believe the addition of Mister Potter's potion to yours, Miss Granger has rendered it useless, as it has yours Mister Weasley, the three of you may go.

'I'm sorry Professor,' Harry mumbled.

'Don't mention it m'boy, everyone makes mistakes. Life would be boring if people were perfect wouldn't it?'

'Yes sir it would.'

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way out of the dungeon, Hermione wearing a scowl and rubbing the bump on her head, and Ron looking very disgruntled.

'The one time I make a potion right and you decide to explode yours in it!' Ron said as they were walking through the school,' he said to Harry.

'I didn't mean to! I just read the instructions wrong, you've done that loads of times!'

'I k_now_! But today was the one time I had managed to do it right without anyone else's help! Bloody typical!'

The two of them fell silent and scowled all the way to the common room.

After the three of them had scrambled through the portrait hole they were welcomed by a screech from the other side of the room.

'_Won-Won_!'

'Merlin, give me strength!' Hermione mumbled, but only loud enough for Harry to hear. She turned and walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

Harry stepped out of Lavender's way as she made her way towards Ron.

'Ronny! I missed y-, what's that smell?' She pulled back from the hug she was about to give him and screwed up her nose in disgust.

'What? Oh,' Ron pulled his robes up to his nose and sniffed, 'Harry's potion exploded over me, I'll go change, back in a minute.'

'Don't keep me waiting!' Lavender said in a sickly sweet voice.

Ron smiled, Harry thought it was somewhat forced but of course kept his thoughts to himself.

'I won't.'

Harry followed Ron up the stairs to the dormitory. They dumped their bags on the floor, Harry collapsed onto his bed and Ron rummaged in his trunk for his other set of school robes. He changed in a matter of seconds leaving his dirty ones in a heap at the bottom of his bed.

Hermione had done the same as Ron and changed her robes for her clean ones. She spun round to pick her bag off the floor and suddenly felt very dizzy; she grabbed onto her bedpost and swayed dangerously even though she was trying her hardest to steady herself. A second later she had fallen to the ground, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and her body not moving. She was unconscious.

Harry was led on his bed contemplating the homework he had been given that day. He decided he would tackle his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, as it seemed to be the most interesting of the work he had been set. He was brought back from his decision-making by a loud thud.

'Ron?' he asked.

He sat up and looked at the body of his best friend, crumpled in a heap on the floor.

'Oh _crap_!'


	2. Chapter 2

**I LOVE MY NEW CAR!...But that's beside the point!**

**You asked me to update and because I'm nice I am doing, and it's because I'm in a really good mood - see first sentance! Oh, in this fic I'm writing characters I never have before which was fun but a bit daunting too when it came to McGonagal and Dumbledore, but hopefully you'll like that when it comes up in later chapters.**

**Cheers :D Step ;)**

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Chapter 2

Parvati Patil walked into the sixth year girl's dormitory and had a look round to make sure there was no one else in the room. She took an envelope from inside her robes and as she sat down on her bed cross-legged she broke the wax seal on the back. She looked up from the envelope for a second, but that's all it took for her to notice Hermione sprawled on the floor unconscious.

'Hermione!' she shouted as she quickly got up, stuffing the envelope back into her robes. She knelt down next to Hermione and rolled her over onto her back.

'Hermione, can you hear me?' she asked, starting to panic slightly.

She got no response from Hermione, so decided the best thing she could do was to get some help. She sprinted out of the room and down the staircase to the common room. She pushed her way through the portrait hole, a little more forcefully than the Fat Lady liked.

A second after she disappeared Harry came tearing down the opposite staircase having thought along the same lines as Parvati. As he turned a corner he saw Parvati stumbling in front of him. He caught up with her and saw she was out of breath.

'Harry! Oh, I should have come and found _you_! It's Hermione, she's passed out I think, in our dormitory. I couldn't wake her up!'

'What? So's Ron!' Harry replied, very confused.

Parvati stopped walking and so did Harry.

'Ron is too?'

'This can't be a coincidence!' Harry said, thinking aloud.

'Harry, we need to get help!' Parvati said, trying to bring him from his thoughts.

'I know, look why don't you go back to the common room. Tell Ginny that Ron's unconscious and tell her to go up and watch him 'til I get back with someone. You do the same with Hermione ok?'

'Ok, I will.'

Parvati turned round and ran back the way she came. She got to the portrait hole and for a second couldn't remember the password.

'Oh…er…OH! _Abstinence_!'

'Yes dear,' the Fat Lady replied.

Parvati scrambled through the portrait hole and frantically scanned the room for Ginny. She found her sat in the window seat staring out into the grounds, a book lying on her lap, not being read.

'Ginny!' Parvati exclaimed as she made her way through the room, weaving through chairs and people.

Ginny sharply turned her head from the view and focused her eyes on Parvati finding her way towards her.

'What is it Parvati? What's wrong?'

'It's Ron, he's unconscious in his room. Harry asked if you'd watch over him while he's finding someone to help?'

'What? Ron's unconscious? How?' Ginny asked, standing up.

'I don't know, but Hermione is too!'

'Wait, Hermione _and_ Ron are unconscious in Ron's room?'

'WHAT?'

Lavender had been coming to see why Parvati seemed to be panicking and had, unfortunately, heard Ginny's last sentence.

'Nothing,' Ginny replied as fast as anything.

She pushed past Lavender.

'It's just Ron up there, Hermione's in our room. I'm going to watch over her.' Parvati said, walking next to Ginny.

'What's going on?' Lavender demanded of both of them.

'Nothing,' Ginny replied again. 'Thanks Parvati.'

Parvati turned and ran up the stairs to their room. Hermione was led just as Parvati had left her; sprawled on her back.

Parvati knelt down next to her and tried to wake her while she waited for help.

Ginny ran up the stairs to the sixth year boy's room. Lavender tried to follow her but Ginny turned round halfway up the stairs and glared at her.

'You're not coming in with me. I don't need you…_flapping_ over him. I'll make sure he's ok until help arrives.'

'You can't tell me what to do! Who do you think you are? I'm his _girlfriend_!'

'Er…in case you've forgotten, _Lavender_, I'm his _sister_! I think that gives me more right than you to go in there. Do _not_ make me hex you, for _your_ sake!'

The two witches stared at each other, Lavender blinked first.

'FINE!'

She turned and stormed down the stairs.

Ginny hurried up the rest of the stairs and barged her way into the room.

'Ron, can you hear me?'

She knelt beside him and felt for his pulse. She found it and relaxed slightly.

'Merlin Ron, what have you done to yourself now?'

Ten minutes later and Hermione and Ron were led in beds in the hospital wing being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey. Harry and Ginny were ordered to wait outside whilst she checked them over, and with scowls on their faces, they agreed.

Ginny turned to Harry who was slumped on the floor.

'Do you have any idea what could be wrong with them?'

'Well…the only thing that could have happened was them having a reaction to the potion they swallowed.'

'What potion?'

'The potion that exploded out of my cauldron and showered them, they both caught a mouthful. I added too much of one ingredient and-' he mimed the potion exploding out of the cauldron.

'Oh, what potion was it?'

'Amortentia,'

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

'Don't worry,' Harry continued, 'it wasn't in any condition to make anyone fall in love or anything!'

'Thing is you never know with potions. Have you told Madam Pomfrey?'

'Yeah, I managed to tell her before she started shoving me out of the room.'

Ron woke up in the hospital wing confused. He had opened his eyes and did not recognise his surroundings. Once his brain had started thinking he realised he did recognise where he was, but he still had no idea what he was doing there.

He rolled over and what he saw made him sit up very fast.

'Hermione?'

Hermione stirred and opened her eyes. She looked at Ron for a second, then her brow furrowed and she cleared her throat.

'Ron? Where are we?'

'Hospital Wing, but I have no idea why! Are you feeling all right?'

'Er…' Hermione sat up, 'I think so. You?'

'Yeah…I think. I'd just really like to know why we're here.'

'Me too. Normally feeling unwell is a stipulation when it comes to taking up a place in the hospital wing, but seeing as though neither of us feels ill, it is a bit strange that we're here.'

Ron swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was about to hop down.

'Ah ah! What do you think you're doing? You need rest!' Madam Pomfrey had seen they were awake and had come out of her office to talk to them.

'Why? I feel fine. What happened to us?'

'You collapsed. Both of you.'

'Both of us?' Hermione and Ron asked simultaneously.

'Do you remember feeling unwell at all?' Madam Pomfrey asked, pushing Ron back down on the bed.

'I don't,' Ron said. 'I'd just changed my robes and then, I suppose I…collapsed. Harry was there too, what did he say happened?'

'Mister Potter said the same, you'd been changing your robes and then he heard you land on the floor. How about you Miss Granger?'

'I was doing the same as Ron, I'd changed my robes and I turned round to…to get my bag off the floor and I went really dizzy. Then I presume I fainted.'

'Well, as there was no one there to see you faint, Miss Granger, we can only hope that is what happened.'

'So can we go?' Ron asked hopefully.

'No you certainly _cannot_! You will both stay here tonight and _rest_!'

'But it's only,' he checked his watch, 'half seven, and I'm starving, _and_ I'm supposed to be at Quidditch practice!'

Hermione tutted loudly.

'What?' he asked her.

'Nothing,' she mumbled.

'I don't care what time it is Mister Weasley or what you had planned, you are staying _here_ tonight. In the morning you can rejoin the main school.'

'But I've got homework to do, and Gryffindor don't have any prefects!' Hermione said, slightly panicked.

'Only _you_ would worry about homework and Gryffindor over your own health,' Ron said with a smirk.

'And only _you_ would worry about your dinner and Quidditch over yours!' Hermione replied with a scowl. Apparently she hadn't forgotten she was still annoyed with Ron.

'Both of you need to calm down. There will be no homework or prefect duties done by either of you, you are here to rest and get your strength back, and I will get you some food brought up from the kitchens. Mister Potter and Miss Patil are temporary prefects for the night so you needn't worry about that Miss Granger.'

'Can we have visitors?' Ron asked.

'You may have one visitor each for _twenty minutes_.'

'_Twenty minutes_! That's nothing!' Ron exclaimed.

'It will turn into nothing if you don't calm down Mister Weasley!'

'Madam Pomfrey, please could you let us have…three quarters of an hour, even half an hour, to see our friends, I know we need our rest, but we're not feeling ill. We won't over-exert ourselves, we promise,' Hermione ended her speech with a pleading smile.

Madam Pomfrey smiled at Hermione. 'All right, you can have forty minutes if you promise not to go mad!'

Hermione beamed, 'Thank you Madam Pomfrey.'

Ron pulled a face at Hermione behind Madam Pomfrey's back, when the nurse turned round Hermione scowled at him.

Hermione laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. When Ron had made sure Madam Pomfrey was out of earshot he rolled on to his side and leaned forward.

'Could you have sucked up to her any more?'

Hermione's eyes snapped open.

'It was only because of your subtle as an air-raid comments that I _had_ to suck up. Thanks to me we now have _double_ the time she wanted to give us with our friends, so I don't know why you're complaining, you should be thanking me!'

Ron fell silent and rolled onto his back.

'Merlin I'm bored!' he exclaimed after only a minute of silence.

Hermione let out a groan of frustration. She sat up and got out of her bed.

'Hey! Where are you going?'

'If you must know, Ronald, I'm going to the toilet, is that all right with you?' She glared at him, daring him to challenge her in any way.

'Fine.'

'Why _thank you_!' She walked to the end of the wing and towards Madam Pomfrey's office. The nurse bustled out looking flustered before Hermione explained she was only using the bathroom and would be back in bed in a few minutes. She went into the small room and locked the door.

Ron had sat up and watched Hermione walk down the ward, he didn't know why but he was slightly sad to watch her walk away from him when he had obviously annoyed her. He didn't know exactly what he'd done, but then again, they hadn't been on proper speaking terms since before Christmas. Just because they were now sharing a ward didn't mean things had changed.

He thought he heard a thud from the far end of the ward but at the same moment he started to get a ringing in his ears and coloured spots filled his vision. Three seconds later he was unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

**(sunburnt)**

**If I'm honest I was going to update '...Heartfelt Dream' before I posted this one but I'll be even morehonest, I haven't written it yet! So hopefully you'll be happy with this one until I write it. Won't be long I promise! Hope you like it, things become clear in this one. Let me know what you think.**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 3

Hermione woke up to a throbbing in her head. She opened her eyes but the small amount of light from the candles that surrounded her made them sting and made her head throb more. She grimaced and sucked a breath in at the pain.

'How's your head?' A voice asked her to her right.

'Ron, is that you?' she mumbled.

'Yeah it's me. So how is your head?'

'Throbbing. What happened? I didn't faint again did I?'

'Actually we both did. You cracked your head open on the sink as you fell and I broke my wrist when I fell off the bed.'

Despite her pain, Hermione chuckled.

'Sorry, I shouldn't laugh. How's your wrist?'

'It's fine, bit sore. Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a few seconds. Took a bit longer for your head though. You were bleeding everywhere, you had me worried.'

Hermione braved the candlelight and opened her eyes. Despite protests from her head she managed to roll over onto her right side. She gingerly felt where her head was hurting the most and felt a large amount of padding and a bandage around her head keeping it in place.

'Madam Pomfrey managed to stop it bleeding and she managed to heal most of it but it still needs to heal a bit more. Hence the headdress!'

'And I bet I'm looking beautiful in it!' she said sarcastically.

'No less than usual!' Ron replied. Instantly he blushed and cleared his throat. Hermione only just managed to hide a small smile.

'So, we both fainted again,' she said, changing the subject as fast as possible, 'that can't be a coincidence.'

'No, I don't think it can.'

'The only thing that can be an explanation is us swallowing Harry's half made potion.'

'But we didn't feel ill from it, you'd think if it was gonna make us ill it would have happened as soon as we swallowed it. We feel fine, we just…keep falling unconscious occasionally!'

'Speak for yourself, I don't feel fine!'

'Well had you aimed for the floor a bit better then you would be!'

'_Had I aimed for the floor better_! I didn't really have much of a say in the matter as I was falling unconscious at the time! And you can hardly talk; I don't think I've heard of anyone falling off a bed _whilst lying down_!'

Hermione thought Ron would argue back but he didn't, he started laughing.

'I think the less said about _that_ the better, although I was sat up at the time so it's not as bad as you think.'

Hermione smiled but then her expression turned serious. 'We're still no nearer to working out what's wrong with us are we?'

'Nope. Ah well, I'm sure someone'll work it out sooner or later. In the meantime you'd better get some sleep.'

'Who made you my minder?' Hermione said with half a smile on her face.

'Actually I have been for the last two minutes. Madam Pomfrey went to ask Professor Slughorn if he thought the potion we swallowed might be causing this. She'll be back soon but until then she made me promise to make sure you didn't do _anything_ if you woke up!'

'To be honest I really don't feel like doing anything so you won't have to restrain me!'

'That's a shame!' Ron said quietly. He blushed a deep red as soon as he said it. Hermione pretended she hadn't heard anything.

'Pardon?'

'Nothing,' Ron said quickly.

Hermione smiled as she rolled onto her back, her smile soon faded however when her head gave another painful throb.

'Oww!'

'What?' Ron asked, sounding concerned.

'It's nothing, just my head.'

'Oh! Madam Pomfrey left this potion for you to take if it hurt a lot. Here.'

He picked it off the cabinet that separated their beds and leant towards Hermione. She tried to roll over but apparently she did it wrong because her head throbbed again.

'Ah!' she said quietly.

Seeing Hermione was in pain Ron got out of bed and took the potion to her. Knowing she could hardly drink the potion led down without risk of choking, he took her gently by the arm.

'Come on, you have to sit up to drink it. Slowly though.'

He put his hand behind her shoulder and helped her sit up.

'Thanks,' she said.

He turned and picked the small bottle off the cabinet and held it out to her.

'Thanks…again.'

'You're welcome.'

Ron watched as she drank the potion. He could see it was working when the slight frown she had been wearing since she woke up disappeared.

'Better?' he asked.

'So much. You know muggle medicine takes a good twenty minutes to start working properly.'

'Twenty minutes!' Ron exclaimed.

'That's the second time you shouted that out tonight!' Hermione said with a smile on her face, 'Yes twenty minutes.'

'That's ages! You could have died by then!'

Hermione giggled. 'Ron if you were going to die then pain relief wouldn't have helped in the slightest would it.'

'Well no, probably not, but still, that's a long time to be in pain.'

'Yeah it is. But unless you're in hospital then that's as good as it gets!'

'Well I hope I never have to rely on muggle pain relief!'

Their conversation was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey walking into the ward with Horace Slughorn waddling behind her.

'Ah Miss Granger, you're awake. I'm glad to say Professor Slughorn has an idea as to why the both of you keep collapsing.'

'You do?' Hermione asked sitting up. She waited for the throb from her head wound, but the potion was doing its job and keeping her from feeling the pain the sudden movement should have caused.

'Yes, I think I may understand what's going on. If the both of you are strong enough I would just like to try one thing to see if my ponderings are correct. Are you both well enough to go for a very short walk?'

'I am,' Ron replied.

'Me too,' agreed Hermione.

'Hang on Professor, I'm not too sure about this. Miss Granger is suffering from a severe blow to the head,' Madam Pomfrey added.

'I assure you Madam Pomfrey, I will not cause any more harm to your patients. I will simply ask that Mister Weasley walk out of the door to the hospital wing. Miss Granger can stay in her bed. I will of course walk next to Mister Weasley to insure he does not come to any harm.'

'Very well,' Madam Pomfrey replied, not looking at all convinced.

'If you would be so kind as to watch Miss Granger closely as Mister Weasley walks out of the room, Madam Pomfrey. Mister Weasley if you wouldn't mind.'

Ron got off his bed and walked next to Professor Slughorn, a slightly confused look on his face. When they reached the door to the hospital wing Professor turned around to Madam Pomfrey.

'If you could just keep an eye on Miss Granger after Mister Weasley has walked through the door, Poppy, I would be most grateful.'

Madam Pomfrey scowled at Professor Slughorn, but did as she was asked. Hermione gave the nurse a slightly nervous look.

'Now Mister Weasley, if you would be so kind as to tell me if you feel unwell as soon as you do, please don't wait until you are about to fall to the ground before you decide to say something, all right?'

'Er…ok.'

'All right then, one step at a time.'

Slughorn opened the door and took a firm grip on Ron's arm, he stepped forward one pace and Ron followed, by necessity more than anything seeing as though Slughorn's grip on his arm had become vicelike.

'Feeling all right?' Slughorn asked Ron.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Ron replied with a shrug.

'Okay, one more step.'

They both took a step that took them out of the wing. Slughorn held the door open with a flick of his wand.

'Still all right?'

Ron though for a second, 'yeah, still fine.'

'All right, one more step.'

Again Ron followed Slughorn's movement forward.

'How about now?'

'Professor I feel fine, and I don't understand wha-'

'Please just humour me for a few more seconds Mister Weasley, I shall explain everything shortly.' Slughorn said with a smile. 'Now, one more thing that I think shall be very telling to this little, well…experiment for want of a better word.'

He turned towards the still open door and flicked his wand to shut it. He turned to look at Ron. After a few seconds Slughorn smiled.

Ron had suddenly become very dizzy and had started to sway.

'Er…prof…professor…I don't…don't feel well.'

Slughorn immediately flicked his wand at the door again and it opened. After a few seconds, Ron stopped swaying but was still feeling dizzy.

'Is that better Mister Weasley?'

'Er…yeah…yeah, a bit.'

'Well I think my suspicions were correct, let's get you back to your bed before Madam Pomfrey does me an injury!'

They walked back into the hospital wing and Ron got back into his bed. As he did he noticed Hermione was now lying down as opposed to sitting up. She managed to give him a half smile as he flopped onto his bed.

'Professor Slughorn would you please tell me what that achieved apart from making my patients unwell, _again_?'

Slughorn smiled. 'Poppy, I am pleased to say I know why your patients keep fainting.'

'And why is that?' she demanded.

'They cannot leave each other's company, that is to say, that have to be in the same room as each other or they will be rendered unconscious.'

Both Hermione and Ron's jaws dropped.

Hermione shut her eyes, hoping she would open them again and find that Professor Slughorn had not just said the words that she thought he had. She opened them and saw he had the same smile on his face he was wearing while he said _those_ words.

All warm feelings she had been holding for Ron whilst he had been helping her earlier slipped away as she realised what this would entail. She would have to live, breathe, eat and sleep around Ronald Weasley…Ronald Weasley and all those who were friends with him…Ronald Weasley and his girlfriend…Lavender Brown.

'_Harry James Potter I am going to KILL you!_' she said quietly but fiercely. Ron turned his head towards her and was shocked by the look of all consuming anger on her face.

'Come on Hermione, it's not that bad,' Ron said, trying to calm Hermione down, 'at least we know what's wrong with us.'

'Ron have you even _thought_ about what this means? We will have to be practically joined at the hip for Merlin knows how long! We'll have to eat breakfast together, we'll have to take lessons together, although I have _no_ idea how _that_ is going to happen, we'll have to sleep in the same room and do…_everything else whilst in each others company_. THINK ABOUT IT!'

'Miss Granger please calm down! I'm sure there is a way to remedy the situation and I'm sure Professor Slughorn will know it.'

She turned and looked at Slughorn expectantly, as did Ron and Hermione. For the first time Slughorn's smile slipped.

'Ah, well…I'm afraid there's nothing that we can do, the only thing that should be done is wait for the side effects to wear off.'

'WHAT?' Hermione screeched, 'How long will they last for?' she demanded.

'Well dear, I have only heard of this happening once before, and the side effects lasted for…' he mumbled the rest of his sentence.

'Pardon?' Hermione asked, 'I didn't hear how long they lasted for.'

Slughorn cleared his throat and looked at his large stomach.

'Two weeks, maybe.'

'TWO WEEKS!' both Ron and Hermione shouted.

'Maybe three.'

'THREE!' Ron shouted, alone this time, Hermione had wilted back down to her bed, eyes closed.

'Rest assured my dear boy, the two people who suffered from this affliction recovered fully, and there was no lasting side effects.'

'That makes me feel _so_ much better,' Hermione muttered.

'Poppy, would you like me to go and inform the Headmaster of what has happened?'

'Yes, I'll come with you though; I want to let the Headmaster know how long I think they should stay here. Will you two promise not to move out of these beds until I get back?'

Ron looked at Hermione who seemed to have shut off from the world around her and answered for the both of them.

'We promise,' he mumbled before lying down on the bed.

Madam Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn left the room leaving Ron and Hermione to contemplate their situation.


	4. Chapter 4

**(well tanned!)**

**He he! This is one of my favourite chapters, for a couple of reasons, hopefully you'll like it too. Not much else to say really, thanks for the reviews, as always much appreciated. :D**

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**Step ;)**

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Chapter 4

'To be fair Hermione, things could be worse.'

Ginny had come to see Hermione with special permission from the Headmaster; it was now half past ten and shouldn't have been out of the Gryffindor common room, but for the next twenty minutes was allowed.

'_How_ exactly?' Hermione said in a scathing tone.

'Well lets see, you could have been poisoned and missed a lot of school, you could have been poisoned and left extremely ill, or, you could have been poisoned and died. So considering you only have to live with my brother's company for two, maybe three weeks I'd say you got off lightly.'

Hermione scowled at Ginny as she realised she was right. She supposed she was over-reacting slightly, but still the situation was hardly brilliant.

'All right I admit things could be a lot worse but if I have to sit in the same room as Ron and Lavender when they're attached at the lips I will not take responsibility for any action I may take!'

Ginny smiled, 'I see your point, but to be honest I think Ron's getting a bit tired of her. Do you know what she had the cheek to say to me earlier?'

Hermione smiled, 'What?'

'I was going up to his room to keep an eye on him before someone arrived to help him, and when she tried to barge her way past me I told her she wasn't going in because I didn't need her making a scene over him. Then she said 'You can't tell me what to do! Who do you think you are? I'm his girlfriend!' I then reminded her exactly who I was and told her she wasn't going in to his room so she stormed off in a huff!'

Hermione's grin had grown quite wide and she suppressed a giggle. Their conversation had been quite quiet seeing as though Ron was still in the bed next to Hermione, although his and Harry's conversation seemed to have him engrossed. Both the conversations were interrupted by Dumbledore walking serenely across the hospital wing, with a smile on his face.

'Miss Granger, Mister Weasley if you wouldn't mind giving me a minute of your time.'

'Do you want Ginny and me to leave Professor?' Harry asked.

'No Harry, I have a feeling Hermione and Ron will share everything I say with you and Ginevra,' Ginny winced slightly at the use of her full name, Dumbledore seemed to take note of her actions, 'so there seems little point. I have discussed the situation with Professor Slughorn and Madam Pomfrey and it seems we have to make some changes to your living arrangements for the both of you to be kept healthy and happy over the next two or three weeks. Luckily Hogwarts is a big enough castle to have living quarters spare for you to inhabit for the necessary time. You will be given a room for you to sleep in, which can be halved in certain ways so you can both maintain your privacy but you will still be, most importantly, in the same room.'

Ron glanced at Hermione quickly, but she was resolutely staring at her hands, which were linked in her lap. He wanted to catch her eye to see if he could gauge how she was feeling, but she refused to move her gaze so he gave up.

'When it comes to your lessons there may have to be some sacrifice on Ron's part,'

Ron's eyes widened slightly, worried about what he was going to hear.

'I understand you both take Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Charms and Transfiguration, obviously there is no problem when it come to these lessons, but as Hermione also takes Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, I think it would be easier if Ron simply sit in on these lessons doing his set homework whilst Hermione studies normally. If Hermione was to be taken out of these lessons and tutored on her own, I feel it would bring a greater disturbance to her studies.'

'Well we can't have that now can we?' Ron said quietly, sarcasm dripping from his words. Hermione glared at him but he refused to meet her gaze. Dumbledore heard his comment and smiled but chose to ignore it.

'As for meal times, breaks and other recreational times, the two of you along with Harry don't ever seem to be more than five meters from each other so I can't see that being a problem. Now, I think I've covered everything. Is there anything I've missed, or anything you would like to ask me?'

'Er…what about Quidditch sir?' Ron asked.

Hermione tutted loudly and rolled her eyes.

Of all the things to worry about and he worries about Quidditch, she thought, although it did bring another question to her mind.

'What happens when we go outside sir?' Hermione asked, 'I mean, there's no rooms to walk out of and separate us is there?'

'That's very true Hermione, however, Horace, I mean, Professor Slughorn believes, as do I, that if you stray too far from each other, this will have the same effect as one of you leaving a room. I do _not_ suggest you try and find the boundaries of your freedom, Madam Pomfrey would be most displeased.'

'So what does that mean for Quidditch sir?' Ron prompted, slightly annoyed that Hermione had buffeted his question out of the Headmaster's mind with her own.

'Well, if Hermione would be so kind as to accompany you to the Quidditch pitch then I see no harm coming to either of you.'

'I think we found Hermione's sacrifice,' Harry said quietly. Ginny grinned.

'I hardly think that's the same,' Hermione said, answering back to Harry's comment, 'at least when he's in my lessons he can get on with his work, when I'm in the Quidditch stands in the pouring rain and howling wind, I can hardly get on with mine can I? _And_ I'm going to have to sit through boring talks about tactics!'

'Hey! My team tactics discussions are _not_ boring!' Harry said, slightly annoyed. Hermione dismissed his comment.

'Don't worry Hermione, a little non-study time will do you good, plus you could do with watching us for the flying tips!' Ron said, a smile sliding across his face.

'Ha! Like I'd watch _you_ for flying tips!' Hermione retorted. Ron instantly angered and went to argue but was cut off by the Headmaster.

'I think we have wandered off the point slightly. If either of you have any questions you are of course welcome to ask me anything about your situation, together of course, but I think Professor Slughorn may be more useful in that department. If you are having problems coping with this…ah…affliction and the ways and means we have tried to accommodate you then Professor McGonagal will be more than happy to help you overcome them.'

Dumbledore glanced at his watch.

'Well I think it is time Harry and Ginny went back to the Gryffindor common room and you two went to sleep. Madam Pomfrey is insistent that you stay here over night but you will be happy to hear you can rejoin the main school for breakfast tomorrow morning. Your possessions will be moved to your new room tonight and Professor McGonagal will show you its whereabouts after breakfast. Now I really must leave you to it. Goodnight all of you.'

Dumbledore turned and walked out of the hospital wing.

'Well, I guess we'll see you tomorrow at breakfast,' Harry said with a smile.

'You could at least _try_ and look as if you aren't enjoying this Harry,' Hermione said.

'I'm sure I have no idea what you mean, Hermione. Have a good nights sleep. See you tomorrow.'

Ginny smiled sympathetically at Hermione, 'See you both tomorrow,' she said as she walked away from the beds.

'See you tomorrow,' Hermione replied.

'Yeah, see you,' Ron replied grumpily.

Harry and Ginny stopped on the corridor side of the hospital wing door.

'This is going to be _so_ funny!' Harry said quietly.

'Yes, I'm sure it'll be hysterical when they're hexing each other into oblivion!'

'Oh don't be so dramatic, it won't get that bad.'

'Well maybe not, but I'll tell you what might do.'

'What?'

'Lavender's reaction when _you_ tell her that she can't see Ron until tomorrow morning, and that will be nothing compared to her reaction when Ron tells her about his and Hermione's 'situation'.'

'Oh Merlin!' Harry tried to imagine how that conversation would play out. After thirty seconds of him being silent, Ginny brought him back to reality.

'Er…Harry, we'd better go, we don't want Filch finding us. Even though we have permission to be out of the common room, it really isn't worth the hassle!'

'You're right. Let's go.'

* * *

'Can you believe all this?' Ron asked Hermione, still wearing a frown on his face.

'I'm hoping tomorrow when I wake up it will all have been a complex and elaborate dream.' Hermione replied with her eyes closed.

Ron sat and thought for a minute. Things weren't _so_ bad, so he had to spend every minute of the day with Hermione for the next couple of weeks. He practically did that anyway, only when they went to bed did they leave each other's company. Although recently things had been differently, all because of Lavender. _Oh Merlin! Lavender_! Ron thought. _That_ wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to.

'Ron?'

'Yeah?'

'I think we need to lay down a few rules before we start, dare I say, 'living together'?'

'Oh, yeah, I suppose that's a good idea. You start.'

'Ok, number one, we tell as few people as possible about this, I'd prefer it if this was kept quite.'

'I agree. Number two, we don't spend too much time in the library, especially if we don't _have_ to be there.'

Hermione frowned slightly, 'Ok fine. Number three, you don't spend anymore time than is absolutely necessary on the Quidditch pitch, obviously I don't want to stop you practicing but it's the middle of winter and I don't want to freeze to death!'

'I suppose that's fair. Number four…er…hmm…do you have any more?'

'Actually I do.' Hermione breathed deeply as if trying to steady her nerve. 'I know she's your girlfriend but I don't think I can cope with you and Lavender snogging each other senseless every minute of the day right in front of me,' she finished her sentence breathing heavily, as if she still had more to say on the subject, but she had actually been very succinct in her statement.

Ron looked slightly embarrassed and he felt it to. It was true he had really only started 'seeing' Lavender to annoy Hermione, but now it seemed wrong to rub it in her face more than was absolutely necessary, especially when Hermione couldn't physically escape anymore.

'Ok, I…I'll try…yeah,' he said quietly.

Hermione was taken aback by his fast agreement, 'Oh, thanks. There's one more thing…when it comes to…going to the…to the bathroom, I'm presuming our room will have…facilities with various charms around them, but I think it would be a good idea to…maybe have a set time when we…go…' Hermione blushed as she finished her sentence. Ron looked at her and started to laugh.

'Why are you laughing?' Hermione asked, instantly reddening.

'Only you would call a toilet, 'facilities' and say 'going to the bathroom' instead of 'going to the loo'!'

'If you're going to be immature about it then forget I said anything!' Hermione snapped turning redder as she did so. This caused Ron to laugh harder.

'Oh come on Hermione, don't be like that,' he said with a huge smile. 'Fine, we'll have set times to go to the _bathroom_ although I don't know why we need them.'

'Because, Ronald, knowing you you'll need to go just when I'm in the middle of reading something, or coming to an important point in an essay I'm writing, and I think you would be highly annoyed if I needed to go when you're fifty feet in the air sat on a broomstick trying to save goals from Ginny!'

Ron stopped laughing, 'All right, I see your point. Number…six are we on? No, five, rule five, scheduled loo breaks. Is that everything?'

'I can't think of anything else?' Hermione said, the redness having finally receded from her face.

'Ok, so in summary, one, no telling, two, no excessive library, three, no excessive Quidditch, four, no excessive snogging and five, scheduled loo breaks.'

'Very succinct Ron. Now if you don't mind I'm going to try and go to sleep, although my pain killers may be wearing off so I don't know how much I'll get.'

'Ask Madam Pomfrey for some more if you're in pain.'

'It's okay at the minute.'

'There's no need to suffer in silence, Hermione.'

'Ron I'm fine, really I am.'

'I don't believe you.'

'Look Ron, do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to lie here with a throbbing head?'

'No but-'

'Well then believe me when I say I'm fine!'

'All right I believe you, but will you promise to get some more potion when the other one wears off?'

Hermione looked at Ron and saw the concern in his eyes. As much as he annoyed her sometimes he always looked out for her, no matter what the situation.

'I promise I will. Now come on, we both need our sleep, something tells me tomorrow is going to be very draining on both of us!'

Ron smiled, 'Yeah I suppose it is.' He lay down on his bed and rolled onto his side. He blew out the candles stood on the cupboard and settled himself under his quilt. 'Night Hermione,' he said quietly.

Hermione smiled slightly, she was going to hear him wish her good night every night for a while, the thought comforted her somewhat.

'Night Ron, sweet dreams.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, because I got quite a lot of reviews, I thought I'd be nice and give you another update. I have to say I'm loving writing this one although I have a feeling it will go on for longer than I originally planned, hopefully you won't mind though! This one is a bit descriptive but it needed it, it's out the way now, so there shouldn't be many more like it.**

**Hope you like it :D**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 5

Hermione woke up and was, for a second, confused as to why she wasn't looking at her dormitory ceiling. Suddenly all the memories of the previous day flooded back to her and she moaned quietly as she envisaged the day that was looming in front of her.

'What was that for?' Ron asked with a smile.

'What was what for?' Hermione replied as she sat up and pulled the covers off her.

'You moaned. What was the moan for?'

'Oh, that. It was nothing, I was just overwhelmed with memories from yesterday and didn't quite manage to keep my disbelief and frustration inside.'

Ron was slightly taken aback by the full and honest answer Hermione had given him. 'Oh, right. Your robes are on the cabinet, how long do you need to get ready?'

Hermione looked at Ron and saw he was already fully dressed and ready to go down to breakfast.

'How long have you been up?' she asked.

'About fifteen minutes.'

'What time is it?'

'Quarter past eight.'

'You could have woken me! We're supposed to see Professor McGonagal before lessons start,' she said, slightly irritated as she stood up and took her robes off the cabinet.

'Actually I couldn't. Madam Pomfrey insisted I let you sleep until half past eight or until you woke yourself up.'

'Oh…ok.'

She started walking towards the bathroom at the far end of the hospital wing.

'Remember not to shut the door!'

Hermione stopped and turned to Ron.

'But…how will people know not to come in?'

Ron smiled, 'Don't worry about that, it's charmed to recognise when someone's in and stops anyone else from going in or being able to see in whilst you are. Madam Pomfrey told me.'

'Oh, well that's ok then.'

She turned and finished her walk to the bathroom. She emerged five minutes later and walked back to her bed.

'You don't have to-'

She stopped and smiled.

'What?' Ron asked. 'Why are you smiling?'

'I was just about to say you don't have to wait for me, but…you do.'

Ron smiled, 'Well, technically I don't, but I'm getting pretty tired of collapsing everywhere!'

'Me too. I won't be a minute.' She picked up her wand, which had arrived during the night along with her robes, and flicked it at the curtains which were drawn back. They instantly surrounded the bed, shielding her from Ron's view.

Ron was quietly impressed by Hermione's spell work; they had only been doing non-verbal spells for three months but she could now do the majority of the spells she regularly used without having to say the incantation.

Five minutes later and Hermione emerged from behind the curtain ready for the day.

'Ready?' Ron asked.

'As I'll ever be!' Hermione replied.

'Oh come on, it won't be that bad.' Ron said as they started walking towards Madam Pomfrey's office. They reached her door and she came out to greet them.

'How are you both feeling?' the nurse asked them both.

'Fine,' they replied in unison.

'Is your head hurting dear?' she asked Hermione.

'No, not anymore. Can I take this off?' she pointed to the bandage around her head.

'Just let me have a quick look at your injury.'

Hermione stood still as Madam Pomfrey inspected her head wound.

'Hmm, well the skin has knitted together so there's no risk of infection. I don't think you need it needs to be covered anymore; just don't aggravate it by touching it or scratching it.'

'I won't.' Hermione promised.

'Can we go now?' Ron asked impatiently.

'Yes you can. Just don't do anything silly, I don't want to see you two in here again.'

'We won't,' Hermione said.

They left the hospital wing together and made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione took a nervous glance over the four tables, hoping against all hope that their 'situation' was still unknown by the majority of the school. She sighed when she didn't see anything that struck her as different. Malfoy was holding court over on the Slytherin table but that was normal behaviour, the group of sixth year Ravenclaws seemed to be discussing various essays they had been set and the Hufflepuffs were just eating.

Ron and Hermione sat on opposite sides of the Gryffindor table sitting themselves next to and opposite Harry.

'How are the happy couple this morning?' Harry said with a huge grin on his face.

Hermione glared at him.

'Don't even _start_ saying things like that!' Ron snarled.

'Sorry,' Harry said, still smiling.

'_Won-Won_!'

Lavender came across to Ron and squeezed herself between him and Neville. Hermione thought she heard Ron whimper quietly but a smile found its way on to his face fast enough.

'How are you feeling? Are you in pain? How come you didn't come down earlier? I've been waiting _ages_ for you!' Lavender asked without breathing in between the questions.

'I'm fine; we've only just been let out by Madam Pomfrey. She wanted to check we were all right before she let us go.'

Lavender threw a quick glance at Hermione who quickly started pouring milk into her bowl of cereal, trying to ignore the scene which was unfolding in front of her.

'Did you _have_ to wait for _her_?' Lavender said, loud enough for Hermione, and most of the people around her, to hear. Hermione sighed.

'Er…yeah I did. Look Lavender, I've got something I need to tell you.'

'Ah, here you are Weasley, and you too Miss Granger,' Professor McGonagal came up to them from the staff table. 'If you wouldn't mind coming with me I'll show you to your er…' she looked at the people around Ron and Hermione, and realised only Harry was likely to know what was going on, 'your…extra study area.'

Lavender instantly looked confused and looked at Ron for some sort of explanation. She got none as Ron stood up, as did Hermione, and they followed McGonagal out of the Great Hall, Ron giving the bacon he had been eyeing up since he sat down a sorry glance as he walked away.

Hermione noticed and handed him three slices of toast from the pile she had managed to grab as she stood up. He grinned at her and wasted no time in munching into all three of them.

They followed McGonagal through various corridors; only Hermione noticed where they were going, Ron being far too interested in his breakfast.

McGonagal stopped in front of a large portrait of an elderly, serious looking wizard wearing a large hat and olive robes.

'Edward, you are to permit these two students to the staff wing when they give you the password. However, it won't be the password that the rest of the staff use,' she turned to Ron and Hermione, 'you will have your own to let you in. The password is _sporadic_.'

The painted wizard frowned, 'May I ask why these two students are being permitted to gain access to the staff wing Professor McGonagal?'

'They are victims of an accident with a potion and fall ill when they are separated; therefore, they need their own shared _and halved_ room to sleep in. There is no room in the boys dormitory for Miss Granger, and I highly doubt she would be comfortable sleeping in there, and as you well know Edward, boys are not permitted into the girl's dormitories.'

'I understand professor.'

'Now, if one of you would care to try out your new password…'

'I'll do it,' Ron said. 'Spoladic!'

Hermione barely managed to suppress a giggle.

'What?' Ron asked, slightly confused as to why the portrait hadn't let them through.

'It's _sporadic_, Ron, with an r not an l!' Hermione said quietly, still with a smile on her face.

Ron went red.

'Oh,' he muttered.

'Quite right my dear,' Edward said and swung forward revealing a large doorway.

'Mind the step,' McGonagal said as she led the way through the door.

Hermione and Ron followed her through another series of corridors, and when they reached the end of one they climbed the wide staircase up seven floors.

Hermione was out of breath when she reached the top and clutched a stitch in between her ribs. Despite her age, Professor McGonagal could – apparently – still climb stairs as well as someone half her age.

'Do try to keep up Hermione!' Ron said with a smirk on his face.

Hermione scowled at him but at the same time tried to slow her breathing and alleviate herself of the stabbing pain in her side.

'Professor,' she said, still gasping for air, 'why are we so high up?'

McGonagal answered her without slowing or turning round.

'The staff quarters are quite large Miss Granger, and there are only a few residences on each floor. The floors below us are all full so you are to be residing on this floor.'

'Oh,' Hermione said quietly, realising she would probably be getting quite physically fit very quickly.

McGonagal stopped in front of what appeared to be an area of normal, stone wall.

'Now,' McGonagal started, looking sternly at Hermione and Ron, 'I must insist that what I am about to tell you is not shared with _anyone_ else. The teachers of this school deserve their privacy outside of teaching hours and I _do not_ want them to be disturbed because you gave away the method to getting into their private residences. Is that understood?'

Under the glare McGonagal was giving them they were hardly going to say no.

'Yes,' Ron said.

'Yes Professor,' Hermione replied.

'Good. You will see on the wall a stone which is raised from the rest slightly. To enter your room you need only place your hand on the stone and say the password you are about to choose. The door will then appear and you will be able to enter it. If you would be so kind as to choose a password the both of you will remember.'

Hermione turned to Ron.

'Well I suppose it should be something we can both remember easily-'

'How about '_Quidditch_'?'

'But it shouldn't be something extremely obvious either.'

'But if it's not obvious how am I going to remember it?' Ron asked.

'How indeed!' Hermione said quietly. 'How about something that is related to Quidditch but isn't one of the balls, teams or positions?'

'Yeah ok…like what?'

'Merlin Ron, do I have to think of everything?'

'Well you normally do so why change a habit of a lifetime?' Ron said with a smirk.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Fine! How about the last name of a famous Quidditch player?'

'Oh you would want to bring _Vicky_ into the situation wouldn't you?' Ron snapped.

Hermione sighed impatiently, 'Merlin above! Actually, _Ronald_, I was thinking about that woman Professor Slughorn is endlessly harping on about. What's her name? Gwen…Gwenog Jones! How about 'Jones' for our password?'

Ron was still scowling at Hermione. 'Fine, we'll use that.'

Hermione turned to Professor McGonagal. For a split second Hermione thought she had seen amusement in the Professor's face, but after she had blinked it had disappeared.

'Right, well now you have your password if you would both be so kind as to place a hand on the raised stone I will perform the spells that make this room open to you two and you two alone. If you would say your password together after I count to three the charms will be cast.

McGonagal flicked her wand various times and Hermione noticed the stone was starting to warm up and had taken on a blue tinge.

'After three. One – Two – Three.'

'Jones,' Hermione and Ron said simultaneously.

The stone grew slightly warmer and then went cold, losing its blue tinge at the same time.

'There, the spell is complete, if one of you would be so kind as to open the door.'

Hermione's arm had started to ache and she had already let it drop to her side. Ron said the password and a doorway appeared before their eyes. He went to open it but the door was locked.

'One password to a miserable old sod, seven flights of stairs, another password and a hot rock and we _still_ can't get in!' he exclaimed.

'A simple _Alohomora_ will do the trick Weasley!' McGonagal said sternly.

'Oh, right.'

He took his wand out from his robes and without consciously thinking about it performed the spell non-verbally. To his surprise (although he did his best to hide it) the door clicked open. He grinned broadly and put his wand back into his robes.

McGonagal preceded them into the room and the door shut behind Hermione with a loud thud and a quite click.

'As you can see the room has been split in two. You each have a bed,' she pointed with her wand at two four-posters, identical to the ones they had in their dormitories, 'and they both have a set of curtains around them should you wish for privacy from each other. Your wardrobes already have your robes and other clothes in, and you each have a desk. Should you wish to put them together and make a larger working space you are more than welcome to do so. You are both quite adept at the hover charm so should have no problem moving them around.'

McGonagal briskly turned and walked to the left of the room where there was an opening.

'This doorway leads to your bathroom. It is charmed in the same way that the bathroom in the hospital wing was charmed this morning. Sensors around the door detect when someone is in and an imperturbable charm is activated stopping anyone else from coming near or being able to see in. I think that is all that there is to show you. Do you have any questions?'

Hermione and Ron looked at each other and then looked back at McGonagal. They both shook their heads.

'I don't think so Professor. Hermione said.

'Right, well in which case I must lay down a few ground rules.'

Her expression turned stern and rather scary.

'You are both Gryffindor prefects and I expect you to continue to behave in a way that matches that title. You are not to bring anyone else to this room, unless you have _my_ permission. May I remind you that this is the staff living quarters and as such should be treated with _respect_. If I hear about any immature or…raucous behaviour then I will not hesitate in finding you alternate living arrangements. This privilege has been extended to you because Professor Dumbledore believes, as I do, that the two of you are mature enough to recognise it as such and understand it is not to be abused. I will be most disappointed if a member of staff tells me you have sullied the good name of Gryffindor house, as you know I have high expectation of my prefects.'

She took a deep breath and looked at the two Gryffindors stood in front of her. She knew her speech was probably unnecessary, but this way they couldn't argue that they hadn't been told to behave. She was just covering her back in case of any 'incidents' that may arise.

'Well, if that's clear then you may go to your lessons. If I'm not mistaken you have Defence Against the Dark Arts now, is that correct?'

'Yes Professor,' Hermione replied, 'Won't Professor Snape be angry with us for being,' she checked her watch, 'ten minutes late?'

'Professor Snape is well aware that you might be late for this morning's lesson as I told him so at breakfast. The staff have been made aware of your situation and you will find that they will be most sympathetic to your needs, not that your lessons will be affected greatly.'

Ron raised his eyebrows, not believing that Snape would try and help them in any way, or that he wouldn't dock points from them for being late this morning. Professor McGonagal seemed to read his mind.

'If Professor Snape takes points from Gryffindor house because of your lateness, I would ask that you tell me and I will rectify the situation.'

Ron beamed.

'However I will do nothing about points taken for your cheek, Weasley, so watch your tongue!'

Ron's smile slipped and he looked determinedly at the floor.

'You both may go, but remember the trust Professor Dumbledore is showing in you. Please don't disappoint him.'

'We won't Professor,' Ron said genuinely.

'I'm glad to hear it Weasley, now collect your books and get to your lesson.'


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, this story seems to be going down well and because of that I'm well chuffed :D Just a minor point for this one though, I don't know the colour of Lavender's hair, I literally mention it in passing in this chapter but there are conflicting opinions on the net and none of the sites I've been searching seem to have a definite answer. For some reason I've always had her down as dark-haired but there seems to be thinking that she's blond. If I had the patience I would read all six books to find the one line that probably tells all, but at the minuteI don't. If I'm wrong in my 'dark-haired witch' theory then let me know and I'll change it!**

**Oh! And after my disasterous attempt at correcting Harry's grammar in Falling Star I hope I got it right with Ronthis time. I'm pretty sure I have, it makes sense to me anyway! Anyway I'll shut up, think I've rambled on for long enough!**

**Please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me what you think :D**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 6

Hermione and Ron stood in front of the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Room. Hermione stared at it and went to push it open, but she stopped when her hand was half way towards the door.

'Why have you stopped?' Ron asked, confused.

'I'm just not sure that I want to go in there. I don't think I can handle the sneers and comments from everyone.'

'But no one knows yet.'

'What if Snape's told the class?'

'Oh, right. He might not have though.'

'Maybe, but I really don't want to find out.'

'Come on Hermione, where's your Gryffindor courage?'

'I left it upstairs.'

Ron chuckled, 'No you haven't, come on, it'll be all right.'

He knocked on the door and pushed it open, and the two of them walked into the classroom.

'Sorry we're late Professor, we were-' Ron started.

'I know where you were Weasley; now sit down before I take points off you for interrupting my lesson more than necessary,' Snape snarled.

Ron and Hermione quickly found their seats. Ron was slightly saddened when Hermione took the place she had been sitting in recently, away from Ron and Harry. He thought things had been getting back to normal between them. Then again, he thought, trying to reason with himself, maybe she'd only been talking to him because of their 'situation'.

'WEASLEY!' Snape shouted.

Ron jumped in his seat. He looked at Snape and saw he was very annoyed.

'Have you decided not to partake in this morning's lesson Weasley?'

'No…sir.'

'Then why haven't you got your books out and started listening to what I've been saying? You have already missed twenty minutes of the lesson so I should have every single ounce of your attention, however, you seem to be daydreaming. Ten points from Gryffindor.'

Ron's jaw dropped as did Harry's.

'But sir-'

'Don't make it twenty Weasley.'

Ron stopped protesting and rummaged in his bag taking his books, ink and quill out. The scowl on his face didn't disappear as he focused his attention on Snape.

The rest of the lesson went without incident and Harry, Ron and Hermione left the classroom together.

Their next lesson was Charms and again the lesson went without incident, unless you count Neville sending Terry Boot into the bookcase by accident. It would have been quite an impressive piece of magic had he known how he had achieved it, apparently _Wingardium Leviosa_ had been the last spell on his mind.

They all trooped down to the Great Hall for lunch at twelve o'clock. Ron was about to tuck into his carefully chosen food when Lavender sat down next to her with her usual greeting.

'Hi Lavender,' he said in a forced cheery tone.

'I didn't get chance to talk to you this morning. What was that thing with McGonagal about? Why do you need an extra study area?' the dark haired witch replied.

'Er…yeah, Lavender, I need to tell you something, but not in here,' Ron said quietly.

'Why not here?' she asked, far too loud for Ron's liking.

'Because McGonagal asked me to tell as few people as possible.'

Hermione's eyes appeared over the book she had hidden behind while she was eating her lunch, and were silently reminding Ron he was lying through his teeth.

'Oh, well when will you tell me?'

'After I've eaten some lunch, we'll go to the common room and I'll tell you there.'

'Oh, ok then. Do you mind if I go and talk to Parvati then, we have gossip to discuss!'

'No, go for it.'

Ron was taken aback by Lavender attaching herself to his face. Hermione knew what was going on even though she refused to take her eyes off her book, the sound effects told her far more than she wanted to know.

When Lavender had left, Ron looked at Hermione, or rather the book that was hiding her from view.

'Er…Hermione, is that all right with you?' he asked quietly.

Without changing her gaze she answered him, 'It's fine.'

'Thanks,' he replied, quieter than he asked the question.

When Hermione had finished eating her lunch she put her book in her bag. Ron looked at her questioningly.

'Are you done?' he asked.

'Yes.'

'Right, well, I'll go get Lavender. Er…do you want to wait and walk behind us?'

Hermione glared at him.'

'Why?' she snapped.

'Well…I…I just thought the longer we could go without her knowing the better, and I _really_ don't want her making a scene in here. Do you?'

Hermione sighed, 'No, I don't. Just don't walk too fast or close any doors, I really don't want to see the hospital wing _again_ today.'

'Don't worry I won't,' he said with a smile. She was surprised to find herself smiling back at him.

Ron got up and walked over to Lavender. Hermione watched as they left the Great Hall and then got up and followed them out. She kept a safe distance as they walked through the school but walked a little faster as they reached the Fat Lady. Luckily a group of fourth year Gryffindors were between her and Ron so there was a lot of people going in to the common room, making it easier for Hermione to hide herself in a corner without Lavender noticing.

She hastily pulled her book out of her bag and hid herself behind it, not really wanting to watch the spectacle that she thought was about to erupt.

Lavender had sat herself on the sofa wanting Ron to sit next to her, but instead he pulled one of the armchairs nearer to the three-seater and sat himself down in it.

'Right, well…I have a feeling you won't like this, but there's nothing that can be done so we'll both just have to try and get on with things,' he gabbled quickly.

Lavender frowned and tears formed in her eyes. Ron looked shocked when he noticed her eyes had become very wet.

'What are you getting upset for? I haven't said anything yet!' he asked with his usual tact.

Hermione couldn't help but snigger into her book.

'You aren't g…g…going to b…break up with me are y…you?' Lavender asked, her lip wobbling alarmingly.

Ron laughed out loud with relief, and stopped immediately after he saw the look on Lavender's face.

'No I'm not, so you can stop crying…please.'

Lavender wiped her eyes.

'Well w…what is it then?'

'You know yesterday when I came back from Potions and I told you Harry's potion had exploded all over me?'

'Yes,' Lavender replied quietly.

'Well when it did, Hermione and me swallowed some.'

Hermione was itching to correct Ron's grammar just to annoy him, but she stayed where she was.

'Was that why you collapsed yesterday? Was it the potion that made you ill?'

'Yes it was, but that isn't the end of it, 'cause the reason me and Hermione fainted was because we left each other's company.'

Lavender looked confused but Ron didn't really want her to say anything until he had told her everything so he pressed on.

'The thing is, if one of us leaves a room and the other one doesn't follow then the both of us will collapse.'

He was about to continue but Lavender beat him to it.

'But she isn't here now and you're fine.'

Ron didn't say anything but nodded towards Hermione in the corner, who was still hiding behind her book.

Lavender glared at Hermione, or rather the book she was reading. As she was staring at her a thought flashed through her mind. She whipped her head back round to Ron.

'What about at night, when you go to bed?' she asked, a bit louder than Ron would have liked.

'Well that's what that thing with McGonagal was about this morning, she was showing us to the room we'll be sleeping in.'

'TOGETHER?'

'Keep your voice down!' he exclaimed. 'It's not like we can do anything about it! We didn't ask for this, it was an accident! I don't even _want_ to be in her company but I don't have a choice do I?'

He had shouted this last sentence and had attracted a few glances for the few people who were scattered around the room.

Hermione's stomach had squirmed when she heard Ron shout the last part of his speech out and to her horror she felt tears burn in the corner of her eyes.

Don't you _dare_ cry Hermione_, don't you dare!_ She thought desperately. She managed to keep the tears in check but she couldn't help but look over the top of her book at Ron. She regretted it instantly as he looked straight at her, and she knew her eyes would give her current mood away. She hurriedly hid behind her book again wishing she could just leave the room. She knew at some point she would want to walk away from Ron but she didn't think it would happen just yet. For a second she thought about just risking it and running out the room, but her common sense overtook her and she stayed exactly where she sat, smouldering inside.

Ron's conscience was waging a war with his mind inside his head.

_What did you say that for? You don't mean that!'_

I know, but I had to say something, Lavender was about to get hysterical!

_So you'd rather keep _her_ happy over Hermione, your _best friend

She hasn't exactly been a best friend recently though, has she?

_That's not just her, that's because of you as well. If you hadn't-_

'So what does this mean then? What about us? How long do you have to stay with her?' Lavender demanded, bringing Ron from his thoughts.

'Slughorn reckons it could be about two weeks,' Ron replied quietly.

Lavender's eyes widened. 'TWO WEEKS!' she screeched. A few people looked round at Ron and he turned red.

'Keep your voice down! And _please_ don't go on about it, I told you there's nothing I can do. It's just something we have to put up with!'

'Well I'm not happy about it!' Lavender said forcefully, 'but if there's really nothing you can do-'

'I've _told_ you, there isn't. Anyway, I've got to go, we've got to get to lessons-'

'You don't have a lesson now.'

Ron stood up and Lavender followed.

'I know _I_ don't, but Hermione does, so I have to go with her.'

Lavender scowled.

'I'll see you later,' Ron said quietly. He pushed passed Lavender as she tried to draw him into a goodbye hug. He walked up to Hermione.

'Are you ready to go?' he said in a rather annoyed tone.

Hermione slammed her book shut and shoved it in her bag. She got up and left the common room without a backward glance at Ron. She presumed he had followed her seeing as though she hadn't fallen unconscious, and refused to speak to him as they made their way to the fifth floor to the Arithmancy classroom, not that Ron made any attempt to make conversation with her.

When they arrived at the room Hermione started talking with her classmates, blatantly ignoring Ron, not that he really cared, the less attention he attracted, the better.

During the lesson Ron sat in the empty back row and pretended to be working on the essay Snape had set them in the previous lesson. His thought were far from Defence Against the Dark Arts, however, as his eyes refuse to leave the large amount of bushy brown hair that happened to be sat two rows directly in front of him.

He was annoyed with himself and he was annoyed at Lavender. He hadn't meant what he said about not wanting to spend time with Hermione. He did, of course he did, they'd been best friends for a long time, and, as much as he hated to admit it, he missed her when they were apart for more than a day or so.

But that was beside the point, he had only said those things to get Lavender off his back, he just didn't mean to say them that loud, and the last person he wanted to hear them was Hermione. But unfortunately she had, he had seen that in her eyes. He hated to think that he had made her upset, especially as she looked as if she was about to cry.

Out of anger and frustration he pushed his quill through his parchment and made a small hole. He stared at the paper and made a decision. He would apologise to Hermione, it was the only way he would make himself feel better, and he had to admit, it would be a lonely two weeks if they weren't on speaking terms.


	7. Chapter 7

**:S Ok, if I'm honest I'm putting this up because I feel guilty...I haven't written chapter eleven of Heartfelt Dream yet so I'm hoping this will keep people happy until I update it. It's definitley 'in-progress' just doesn't seem to be coming along very fast!**

**Dunno why but I enjoy writing Hermione and Ron fighting, well fun!**

**Let me know what you think :D It'll make me very happy ;)**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 7

Throughout the day Ron hadn't managed to apologise to Hermione, he had tried to on a couple of occasions but no sound had come out of his mouth. After his failed attempts he decided he would try later on when they were in their room, at least that way they would be on their own and no one would disturb them, or overhear him.

Harry had looked enquiringly at Ron at various times throughout the day wanting an explanation as to why him and Hermione weren't on speaking terms, especially as they had started the day being civil to each other, but all he had got in return were severe shakes of the head and various fierce scowls.

He had had even less luck with Hermione who seemed to have withdrawn into herself more than he had ever known her to. He had even passed her a note in Transfiguration, something that was risky in itself as McGonagal was pacing between them commenting on their work, but all he had got in return to his questions ('What's going on?' and 'Are you alright?') were two words: 'nothing' and 'fine'.

Hermione wasn't sure why she wasn't talking to Harry, not that she wasn't talking to _him_ specifically, she wasn't talking to _anyone_. She didn't trust herself to not take her anger and upset out on whoever spoke to her, so decided to only answer her teacher's questions when she was asked and gave one-word answers when anyone else spoke to her.

Tired of his best friend's moods Harry went up to bed early, hoping things would be better in the morning.

When he said his good nights to Ron he ignored the pleading look the red-haired wizard gave him. He interpreted it as a plea for him to stay down in the common room so he had someone to talk to, but this just strengthened Harry's resolve to leave the two of them to it. He just couldn't be bothered tonight.

Hermione barely acknowledged Harry when he left the common room. She had sat herself in the window seat and was staring out onto the grounds. She had given up all attempt to do any homework, something that seemed to slow both Ron's and Harry's progress on theirs.

Twenty minutes after Harry had left the common room Ron walked awkwardly up to Hermione.

'Er…do you want to stay here much longer, only, if you don't mind, I wouldn't mind going to bed.'

'Fine,' she said quietly, Ron only just hearing her reply.

She stood up and took her bag from the floor. She walked over to the portrait hole and waited for Ron to join her, when he got near to her she pushed the portrait open and climbed through it. As they walked down the corridors to Edward's portrait Hermione maintained a few meters space between her and Ron. When she reached the large painting of the old wizard she muttered the password and walked through the door and up the stairs. Although she was out of breath and tired as she walked up them, she refused to slow down until she was at the top.

When she finally reached their room she spoke the password, her hand placed on the raised stone, and then opened the door with a tap of her wand. Only when she was in the room did she show any sign of what she was feeling inside.

She threw her bag towards where her desk was placed and her outer robes joined it on the floor. She kicked her shoes off, sat on her bed and drew the curtains around her bed so she was as on her own as she could be.

Ron sighed loudly having watched Hermione's acts of frustration from just inside the door. He placed his bag on his desk and sat himself on his bed on the side nearest to Hermione's. He gathered all the courage he had and took a deep breath.

'Hermione…I…I need to talk to you.'

He got no response from Hermione, not that he was expecting any.

Well, he thought, this might make things a bit easier.

'Hermione, I know you can hear me so I'm going to talk regardless of whether you want to talk to me. I'm guessing you're annoyed with me for what I said to Lavender earlier, well, I didn't mean it, I…I really don't mind being in your company at all, you should know that. We're best friends for Merlin's sake, or at least…we were. I'm not so sure now. I thought things were going okay yesterday, but even before that we weren't exactly friends.'

He looked at the curtains wishing he could see through them and see what Hermione was doing. He thought he heard her moving and was startled when he heard her sniff.

'Hermione?'

Still Hermione said nothing in reply.

'Look Hermione, you can't hide behind that curtain forever, you're going to have to talk to me at some point. These two weeks are going to be hard enough without us ignoring each other. The best we can do is at least _try_ and get along.'

Still Hermione's resolve stood strong and she didn't open her curtains or say anything.

Ron sighed, 'Fine, be like that.'

He swung his legs up onto his bed and threw his head onto his pillow, he kicked his shoes off and they landed with two thuds on the floor. As he lay on his bed in thought he grew more and more frustrated at Hermione's lack of communication with him throughout the day and especially now, when he was at least trying to put things right.

'You know, you could at least have the decency to reply to my apology, you should have realised I was only saying that stuff to keep Lavender happy. _You_ would have done the same thing.'

When he again got no response from the bed next to him he sighed and rolled onto his front, his arm dangling over the edge of the bed and swinging to and fro.

Hermione had been lying stationary on her bed since she had thrown herself on it and had only moved to wipe her face of the few tears she had shed whilst Ron was attempting to apologise, well that's what _he'd_ called it, although he hadn't actually said the word 'sorry' during the entire speech.

However, as much as she didn't want to move, she desperately needed to go to the toilet. Typical, she thought, of all the times to need to go and you need to go now, she thought to herself.

She got up off her bed as quietly as she could and slipped out from behind her curtains. She hoped Ron was looking the other way. He wasn't.

'Hermione! Please listen to me.' He jumped off the bed and ran over to her. Before she managed to hide herself in the bathroom he grabbed her arm.

'Please talk to me.'

'Ron, get off me.'

'Hermione why are you being like this?'

'Ron, _get off me now_.'

'No! Not until you talk to me properly.'

He tried to spin her round so she was facing him, but she struggled against his grip.

'_Get off_ _me_!' she shouted.

Suddenly Ron let go; he felt a sharp pain surge through his hand and arm.

'Ahh! What was that?'

He backed off from her and looked at his hand. There wasn't a mark on him.

'What was what?' Hermione asked, shocked at Ron's sudden movement.

'The burning pain that went through my arm!'

'Well, you're the one that wouldn't let go, you can't exactly blame me for it!'

He glared at her. 'No, I suppose I can't, just like you can't blame me for what I had to say to Lavender. At least _I_ apologised!'

'No you didn't,' Hermione replied calmly.

'Yes I did, I explained what I had to do, and I said sorry.'

Hermione turned so she was facing him fully. 'Actually you didn't. You waffled on for a good few minutes, I'll give you that, but you didn't actually say you were sorry!'

Ron stared at her, mouth agape. He thought back to when they had come into the room and tried to remember every word he had said. As much as he tried to remember saying the word sorry in any sentence he had said, he couldn't. Hermione was right.

Hermione read Ron's expression and she knew he had just realised he was wrong.

'Told you,' she said with a smirk worthy of Malfoy.

She turned to walk into the bathroom.

'All right, all right, I didn't actually say the word but you should have known I meant to say it.'

'Like I should have known you didn't mean what you said earlier, you mean?'

'YES! Exactly!' Ron exclaimed.

'Oh, right, so this is all my fault then,' she said, no emotion showing in her face.

'Yes!…No!…I mean, kind of!'

'Oh, well _I'm_ _so_ _sorry_ for causing you all this trouble!'

Ron roared in frustration. 'Hermione, just _shut up_ for a minute. I admit, I shouldn't have said those things to Lavender, I should have come up with another way of telling her what was going on without lying to her, but I never thought you'd think I actually _meant_ them. How could you _not_ know I like your company? I love your company! We've been friends for years for Merlin's sake! You're the only person I know who can make me feel guilty about not doing my homework! To be honest this whole thing doesn't really bother me that much, I know it's gonna be a bit annoying at times, but I don't mind because it's _you_ I'm stuck with! I just thank my lucky stars it's not Laven-…'

For the first time in minutes Hermione actually looked at Ron's face. There seemed to be a war raging in his mind.

'I…I shouldn't have said that. Look, I'm sorry, really I am, I didn't mean to get you all…you know.'

He turned and looked at her, he tried to read her face but failed. Hermione turned and walked into the bathroom. When she was out of sight Ron sighed and walked back to his bed and pulled the curtains around him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Well apparently a few of you were narked 'cause I ended the chapter when I did...very sorry, hence the quick update. I would have done it yesterday but I needed to get chapter 11 of Heartfelt Dream written, but I'm gonna do chapter 9 of this one next and get that one down first before anything else gets done. Quite gutted that I haven't got as far on with this one as I would have liked but I'm enjoying this one and it'll all be fine and dandy soon! lol**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 8

Hermione walked into the bathroom, stood in front of the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes weren't as red as she thought they'd be but they looked tired. As she stared at herself she thought about what Ron had said, and the way he had apologised.

Yes, he should have actually said the word 'sorry' earlier, but she knew he was working up to an apology, he just lost track.

She hated fighting with Ron, mainly because she knew how well they got on when they were friends. He made her laugh, sometimes she thought she might pass out because she couldn't breathe for laughing so hard, but other times he made her cry, not that he knew he did, well, not until today anyway.

She didn't even mind when they bickered; it was the norm now. Ron would do something childish and she would tell him to grow up, she would go on at him for not doing his homework, and he would tell her to stop nagging and relax. But a few minutes later, their disagreement was forgotten and they were friends once again.

A thought that she had been pushing to the back of her mind for a few weeks now resurfaced. It was concerning for Hermione that she hadn't been able to figure what to do about this little problem she had stumbled upon one night in her dreams. She had tried to defy it with logic, but that didn't solve it, it left too many gaping loopholes in her answer. She tried to tell herself she was getting carried away and that dreams weren't real, they were just dreams. Finally after a few days of puzzling over her problem she decided she had better and more important things to worry about, so it got unceremoniously shoved to the back of her mind. But the fact that she was seeing Ronald Weasley in a new light resurfaced as she stood in their bathroom.

If she was honest with herself, she could see why he had said those things to Lavender, she _was_ his girlfriend, not that she could see it as much of a relationship, all they seemed to do was wrap themselves around each other with the same amount of grace Hagrid had when he was drunk. That's why she wasn't exactly surprised when he had let slip that he was glad it wasn't her he was in this predicament with.

So, did she accept his apology? Maybe, was all she could come up with.

She left the bathroom without fulfilling the reason she had gone in there in the first place. When she emerged she saw Ron had copied her earlier action and drawn his curtains around his bed. She walked up the gap that separated them and perched on the edge of her bed, once she had undrawn the curtains around her four-poster.

'Ron?' she said tentatively, not knowing if he was asleep, or pretending to be.

After a few seconds without answer she sat down on her bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. She shut her eyes and rested her head on her knees.

'Yeah?' Ron answered, as he pulled his curtains back.

Hermione looked at Ron and forgot everything she had thought to say to him.

'Er…hi,' she said uncertainly.

Despite everything, Ron chuckled quietly, Hermione couldn't help but smile.

'Hi,' he replied.

'Okay, that wasn't what I wanted to say, you just caught me off guard. I thought you were hiding away.'

'Like you did, you mean?' he asked quietly.

'Yeah,' she conceded. 'Like I did.'

'That doesn't solve anything you know.'

'I know,' she replied defensively. 'I just…never mind, that doesn't matter.'

The two of them fell silent and stared at points in front of them, both trying to think of what to say.

'So er…did you want something?' Ron asked eventually.

'Er yeah…yeah I did…'

'Well, do I have to guess or are you going to tell me?'

'No you don't…sorry…I guess I just…I just wanted to say I accept your apology…I know you were only saying those things to keep Lavender happy, but they still hurt when you said them. Things have been…_strained_ between us recently and sometimes I can't really…well I…I don't know if you're being truthful or not. We've both said things we don't mean, so I'm just a bit…lost at the minute, when it comes to knowing how you feel. I'm sorry if that seems harsh…but it's how I feel.'

She fell silent and felt slightly uncomfortable about what she had just said. She had, near enough, called him a liar to his face but she didn't really mean it like that, or did she? _Merlin_, she thought, even _I_ don't know what I mean, how the hell is Ron meant to?

She sighed, a little louder than she meant to.

'I didn't mean to hurt you,' Ron said quietly. His brow was furrowed as if he was concentrating on every word he said.

He looks how I feel, Hermione thought.

'I know,' she replied.

'I just wanted Lavender to leave me alone; it was the easiest thing to say to shut her up. I guess that's just me, I take the easiest way out without thinking…without thinking about what will happen when I do.'

He looked disappointed in himself. Hermione turned and put her knees down so she was perched on the edge of her bed opposite Ron.

'We all do it Ron. We don't always do the right thing, as much as we want to, sometimes our courage fails us.'

'But I'm a Gryffindor! I'm supposed to be courageous!'

'And you think just because we're put into a specific house it rules our entire personality for the whole time we're here? It doesn't Ron. Do you think that because the Ravenclaws are branded as intelligent, they don't make mistakes sometimes? And as much as you probably don't want to hear it, I don't believe every single Slytherin would save his own skin and not help a friend if it put them in the slightest bit of danger. Just because they're branded selfish doesn't mean they are.'

'I'll believe that when I see it!' Ron replied.

Hermione smiled, 'Ron!' she said reproachfully.

'So I shouldn't feel too bad if I take the cowards way out occasionally?' he asked, looking at her eyes.

'No, you shouldn't. Just make sure you apologise to me straight away the next time you have a brief lapse!' she said with a smile.

Ron smiled in return. 'I will.'

'And I'm sorry too.'

'What for?' Ron asked, looking thoroughly confused.

'For being awkward and distant.'

'You don't have to apologise for that. Look, Hermione, can we go back to normal?'

'You calling me abnormal?' she asked seriously, but broke into a laugh when Ron turned pink and started spluttering, trying to rephrase his question. 'Ron, I'm joking!'

'Oh,' he said, relieved. 'That's just mean. So can we?'

'You mean, bicker constantly about homework, Quidditch and House Elves, and ignore Harry when he goes on about Malfoy being a Death Eater?'

'Yeah, that sounds about right.'

'I think we can manage that. But…'

'But what?'

'I can't make any promises I'll be overly chatty with Lavender though.'

'Oh, okay. But…why don't you like her?'

Because you chose her over me! She thought, the words almost falling out of her mouth.

'Oh, er…just a personality clash, that's all.'

Ron didn't look overly convinced at her answer, but he wasn't going to press her.

At that moment Hermione was reminded that she hadn't used the bathroom to it's full potential earlier. Her eyes widened slightly and she hopped down off the bed.

'Where are you going?' Ron asked.

'To the bathroom.'

'But, you just came out!'

'Ah, well, I didn't actually…_go_ before. I got distracted.'

'By what?'

'You!'

Hermione turned and went into the bathroom. Ron watched her walk away and smiled. He mentally sighed and flopped down onto his bed.

Well, he thought, that went well!

* * *

**Please let me know what you think about how I resolved the issue :D Thank you :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**Are the rulers not working for other people or is it just my stupid computer?**

**Sorry this took a while peeps, altho I am liking the continued reviews :D I wasn't gonna put this chapter in but I kinda needed the bit at the end to make the rest of it more interesting, and funny (hopefully!). Everytime I think about this fic I get the lyrics to 'Say A Little Prayer' by Aretha Franklin in my head..."_Forever, forever we never will part, Oh, how I'll love you, Together, together, that's how it must be, To live without you, Would only be heartbreak for me."_ lol sad but true, and starting to get annoying.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think, now the real fun can start!**

**Step ;) **

Chapter 9

When Hermione emerged out of the bathroom she went over to her bag and pulled out her quill and bottle of ink and a spare roll of parchment. She put them on her bed and placed her bag at the foot of it, it's usual position when she was in her normal bed.

She turned round and looked at the desk which was facing the wall.

'Do you mind if we do what McGonagal said and put our desks in the middle of the room? I don't really want to face the wall. I'll feel like I've been disobedient in lessons and sent to the naughty table which doesn't let you look at anything other than your work!'

Ron smiled. 'Yeah, like I believe you've ever been sent to the naughty table for being 'disobedient' as you put it! And you want to do your work now? It's gone half ten!'

'I never said I ever _had_ been _disobedient_, I just said I would feel like I had been if I had to do my work facing the wall! And yes I do want to do my work now. If I don't at least get a good start on it, it'll start to pile up and get on top of me.'

'Hermione, you could be given ten pieces of homework a day and you'd still have time to get it all done and get your knickers in a twist about House Elves too. It's not physically possible for you to not get your work done. Leaving your work 'til tomorrow is not going to cause long term damage!'

'So that's a yes then?' Hermione asked, ignoring Ron's comments and getting the subject back to the position of the desks.

Ron sighed, giving up on his argument. 'Yeah go on then, to be honest I- hey I get a window!'

'You're only just noticing?' Hermione retorted with a smirk on her face.

'Well it's hardly been the first thing on my mind has it? I had enough on my plate trying to get you out of your stupor that looking at the windows was hardly my number one priority!' he grinned at Hermione, and her scowl turned into a smile.

'I wasn't in a stupor! I was just unbelievably annoyed at you. Where did you learn that word anyway?'

'What do you mean? I know fancy sounding words…did I use it right?'

Hermione laughed. 'Well, technically no…sorry. But I've always thought if you say a word in a complicated sentence with enough confidence that people won't question you, and it kind of fitted, I knew what you meant anyway.'

'Well that's good enough for me!'

'So can I move the desks?'

'Yes you can.'

'Finally!'

She waved her wand and placed the two desks together side on to 'Ron's' window so neither of them were either working in their own shadow or blinded by the low winter sun.

She put the chairs in place with another few waves of her wand and moved her quill, parchment and ink to her side of the now square desk.

She sat down and set about writing the title of the essay Snape had set them in their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson – '_Identify which part of the brain is affected by the Imperius curse and describe the best ways to focus the mind in defence against it.'_

Ron looked at Hermione's back and heard the scratching of her quill against the parchment.

'You won't guilt me in to doing my homework by forcing me to watch you do yours you know!'

'How, exactly, am I forcing you to watch me do mine?' Hermione asked without looking up from her parchment. She underlined the title and opened her textbook to a picture of the brain shaded in different areas to show where different curses, hexes and jinxes changed the chemistry of the brain cells.

'Well you're sat right in front of me!'

'Ron, when do I not do my homework in front of you?' she asked with a smug smile, knowing Ron couldn't win this argument.

'Well, never, but normally Harry's sat next to me not doing his too so I don't feel so bad, but up here there's just you being all studious and me…not being studious!'

'You could always do your homework _before_ the night before it's due in, Ron! But then again, that would be breaking the habit of a lifetime, wouldn't it?'

'You know you could always just let me copy you, I'd get everything done bang on time if you did!'

Ron had just said the exact words that Hermione would always argue against. If there was one argument at which she would bite, it was this one. Ron smiled knowing the exact response Hermione was going to argue his statement with.

He waited for her to start arguing and then mouthed along when she did.

'How can you possibly learn new things if all you do is copy someone else's wo-?'

Hermione had turned around half way through her sentence and saw that Ron was mouthing her every word.

Ron started laughing at the indignant look on her face.

'Well you just reduced your chance of help with your homework from slim to none!' she said before turning back around to her parchment.

Ron's smile slipped but then appeared back in full force.

'You were actually going to help me?'

'Yes…well, what I actually said was your chances were _slim_, that doesn't mean I was _definitely_ going to help you.'

'But still, you were _thinking_ about it, weren't you?'

'Ron.'

'What?'

'Please be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate!'

'Oh, sorry.'

Ron stayed lying on his bed for a few minutes before he decided he might as well join Hermione in doing his homework. If she was in a friendly mood then he still might get _some_ help.

After he had collected his quill, book and some parchment he sat himself opposite Hermione and wrote the title of the essay on top of the parchment.

When he looked up Hermione was staring at him.

'What?' he asked, a puzzled look on his face.

'Okay, I know I told you that getting started on your homework was a good idea, but I didn't actually expect you to do it. Are you feeling all right?'

'Yes, Hermione, I'm fine. I told you, you guilted me into it!'

'Doing your homework _and_ adding new words to the English language, you are on fire tonight aren't you!'

Hermione smirked and got back to her essay. She had already written about the part of the brain that is affected by the curse, now she had to do the hard part of the essay.

Ron was looking at the labelled diagram of the brain in his textbook and reading the paragraph which accompanied it. His brow furrowed as he read the words and glanced occasionally at the drawing. He started writing his opening paragraph in which he answered the first part of the question. His brow furrowed as he re-read the paragraph, and sighed when he decided when he was happy with it, but he thought he'd take advantage of Hermione's good mood.

'Er…Hermione?'

'MmmHmm,' she replied, not looking up from her writing.

'Would you mind just reading through my first paragraph? Because if I've got that bit wrong then I'll have messed up the whole essay!'

Hermione looked at him.

'Okay,' she said simply.

'Oh! Thanks!'

He handed her his parchment and waited patiently whilst Hermione read the paragraph. When she had finished reading it she handed Ron the parchment.

'It's fine,' she said at his questioning stare.'

'It is?' he asked slightly surprised.

'You're surprised?'

'Well a bit, you normally find at least ten mistakes!'

'In a full essay I do, but that's just a paragraph.'

'Oh…right.'

'You should have more confidence in yourself Ron, you're good at Defence Against the Dark Arts.'

The tips of Ron's ears turned ever so slightly pink. He mumbled something incoherent and Hermione smiled and went back to her essay, which was now reaching a foot in length.

An hour later Ron looked up from his parchment and was slightly surprised by how much he had written. He had fulfilled the requirements and written two feet already and he still had to write his conclusion.

He looked up at Hermione and saw she had written a foot more than was necessary and was still writing feverishly. She stopped as she yawned a yawn that might have dislocated her jaw had it gone on for a few more seconds and then went back to her writing.

'Hermione, if you're tired you should stop.'

'I'm not tired!' she replied without looking up at Ron.

'Oh so I just imagined that jaw-breaking yawn did I?' he asked, knowing she couldn't argue.

'Yes you must have!' she replied, but not without a small smile making its way onto her face.

'Okay, I know you have to be right all the time but lying is just wrong Hermione, I'm very disappointed in you!' Ron said in a very calm and controlled voice.

Hermione looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

'Okay fine, I'm tired! Happy now?'

'No, you're still writing.'

'But I just have to finish this paragraph before I start my conclusion.'

'If I believed that was all you were going to write then I'd let you, but I know you too well Hermione. As soon as you finish that paragraph you'll start your conclusion, so I'm afraid I'm gonna have to stop you right now.'

'Just one more minute,' she replied, as she scratched her way across the parchment.

'You have thirty seconds, starting…_now_!'

Hermione didn't look up at Ron during his small demand, but a small smile made its way across her face, and she carried on writing.

'Fifteen – sixteen – seventeen…twenty-one – twenty-two…twenty-six…'

'Don't think I haven't noticed you missing out random numbers, I can still listen whilst writing you know, I'm not you!'

'Twenty-se- hey! I can do more than one thing at once! And don't try and get me off topic! You've had your thirty seconds, it's time to stop writing and go to bed.'

Hermione put a full stop at the end of her sentence and put her quill down on the parchment.

'Fine, I'm done, I'm going.'

They stood up from the table and made their way to their beds. Hermione pulled her pyjamas from underneath her pillow and walked towards the bathroom. Halfway there she stopped.

'You don't mind if I use the bathroom first do you?' she asked Ron.

'No, not at all, just don't be too long!'

Hermione smiled as she walked over to the door and disappeared through it.

When the both of them were lying in bed Hermione drew her curtains. Just as she had lay down and closed her eyes, Ron shuffled in his bed.

'Hermione,' he said in a questioning tone.

'Yes?' she replied sleepily.

'Well, you haven't really said…well, actually you have, but I think you've warmed to the idea a bit since then…'

'Ron, that wasn't a sentence!'

'I hadn't finished! Be patient woman!'

'_Woman!_' Hermione screeched, but Ron could tell by the tone of her voice that she was smiling.

'Yes woman. Shh! As I was saying, or at least trying to…you haven't told me how you feel about our little 'situation' as it keeps being called.'

Hermione rolled onto her side and pulled back the curtains.

'Why do you want to know?' she asked as she propped her elbow onto her pillow and rested her head in her hand.

'I dunno, I just want to make sure you're not bothered by it.'

Hermione surveyed him for a minute before answering.

'It's like Dumbledore said isn't it? It's not as if we're ever too far from each other, and we've known each other for years. It's not as if we're complete strangers, _that_ would be awkward, but we know each other, so it's not. It doesn't bother me. Really it doesn't, just don't surprise me with too many dirty habits I don't know about. I don't think I'd cope!'

He laughed. 'Don't worry, I won't!'

Hermione opened her eyes at twenty-seven minutes past four and rolled over. Her mouth was unbelievably dry and she was gasping for a drink. She couldn't be bothered finding her wand and conjuring herself a glass of water so she shuffled out of bed and walked towards the bathroom.

'Hermione?' Ron asked through his drawn curtain.

'Ron, why are you awake?'

'I have no idea, what about you?'

'I need some water. I didn't mean to wake you.'

'You didn't…I don't think. I just woke up.'

'Oh, okay.'

Hermione turned and went into the bathroom, emerging thirty seconds later with the glass her and Ron's toothbrush had found a home in, filled with water.

She sat on the edge of her bed and gulped down her water, finishing the drink off in a few seconds.

She put the glass down on her bedside table and glanced at Ron. He was looking at the glass.

'Oh, sorry, did you want some of that?'

'Er, yeah actually. I'll go get some more.'

Hermione got back into bed as Ron went to fill up the glass. She snuggled under the sheets and closed her eyes.

Ron went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet, he put the glass under the tap and turned the tap on. As he watched the glass fill up his eyes became heavy. He reached up to the tap and turned it off. He was about to stand up when his eyes closed. His head fell to the side and settled on the top of the cistern.

At the exact same second both Hermione and Ron fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi peeps, sorry for the long wait with this one but as I said when I updated Heartfelt Dream I had to get Pleading and Praying out of my system before I could write anything else.**

**Anyway, I hope you like this one and I hope it was worth the wait :D**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

Chapter 10

Ron opened his eyes and blinked at the bright light that surrounded him. His eyes focused and his brow furrowed as he saw the sink in front of him. He lifted his head off the cistern and groaned.

'Oww!' He exclaimed. 'What the hell?'

'Ron?' Hermione called from the bathroom.

'Yeah? Ah!'

He tried to loosen his neck but winced at the stiffness in the muscles.

'Are you all right?'

'Yeah, just got a stiff neck.'

'Oh, okay. How long are you going to be?'

'What?' Ron asked, confused. He really hadn't woken up properly. He stood up and walked towards the door.

'How long are you going to be in the bathroom. It's just I've slept in a bit and I need to be quick.'

Ron emerged from the bathroom still holding his neck and rubbing it.

'Hermione, I think I…'

'What? You think you what?'

'I…promise not to laugh?'

'Promise not to laugh at what?'

'I think I fell asleep sat on the toilet!'

Hermione's mouth twitched and she pressed her lips together tightly to contain her laughter. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

'Er…you…you fell asleep on the toilet!'

She let out a small squeak which she tried to cover with a cough.

'Yeah…I presume so. I must've…'

He turned around and walked back into the bathroom. Hermione took the chance to try and straighten her face and stop laughing, but the more she thought about Ron sleeping sat on the toilet, the more she wanted to laugh. She had to let out a very un-Hermione-like snort, she would have exploded if she hadn't, and this seemed to sober her up more than anything. She took another deep breath and straightened her face just in time, as Ron stepped through the barrier dividing the bathroom and bedroom carrying the full glass of water.

'Well you managed to fill the glass up at least!' Hermione said with a smile. This was a fatal mistake as the urge to laugh overtook her again.

'Yeah but, I don't just fall asleep! I wouldn't have just fallen asleep, especially sat on the bloody toilet!'

'Ron don't swear. Look we both worked 'til late last night and we were both pretty tired, so it's not surprising if you fell asleep where you sat down. Even if it was on the toilet!'

She could hold her laughter in no longer and it exploded in full volume.

Ron's eyes widened at this and then his brow furrowed in annoyance. He stomped past Hermione and put the glass down on his bedside table. He wrenched the curtains around his bed, undressed and dressed in his school robes ready for lessons. He could still hear Hermione laughing for another minute before the laughter died away. He presumed she had gone into the bathroom.

When he pulled his curtains back a few minutes later Hermione was stood waiting for him, ready to go down to breakfast.

'How did you get ready so quickly?' Ron asked.

'Well I wasn't sat on my bed sulking for one!' she replied with a smile. 'Come on lets go and get something to eat.'

Ron stood up and picked his bag up from the table.

'Oh stop sulking, you'd have laughed your head off if it had been me!'

'I wouldn't!'

Hermione smirked. 'Liar!'

Ron couldn't help but smile. 'Okay, you've laughed at me _and_ called me a liar all before breakfast. That's just mean Hermione! I'm heartbroken!'

'Ah, you'll fix! Come on, I'm hungry and we're late. Harry might start to think we've killed each other.

'Why would he-?' he remembered how he and Hermione had been behaving last time they were with Harry. 'Oh, right, yeah we'd better had.'

They made their way down to breakfast and sat themselves down opposite Harry. He looked up at them with a concerned expression on his face.

'Morning,' he said cautiously.

'Morning Harry,' Hermione replied brightly.

'How are you mate? Sleep okay?' Ron asked as cheerfully as Hermione had.

'Er…yeah…fine…you?'

Hermione sniggered quietly but quickly suppressed it after a sharp look from Ron.

'You can stop that!' Ron said sternly but with a smirk on his face. 'I slept fine.'

'Er…I hate to bring this up, but I have to ask… Are you two…okay now? Friends I mean?'

Ron and Hermione looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

'Well, he still annoys me by swearing-'

'She still lectures me for not doing my homework-'

'And he still tries to put me off doing mine so _he_ doesn't feel guilty-'

'She still harps on about House Elves-'

'And he still calls my organisation _spew-_'

'But apart from that, yeah!'

'We're friends again!'

Harry had stopped dead still and was staring at his two friends. As the two of them had been talking they had – subconsciously it seemed – been preparing the other's breakfast for them.

Hermione had taken six slices of bacon from the tray and made a sandwich smothered in brown sauce for Ron, placed it on a plate, cut it in the way he liked it and pushed it in front of him. At the same time Ron had picked Hermione's favourite cereal from the variety in front of him, poured it into a bowl and smothered it with the right amount of milk for her, before taking two slices of toast and buttering them. He then pushed both plate and bowl in front of Hermione.

'Harry, why are you staring at us?' Hermione asked.

'Did…er…did…'

'Er…Harry, why are you stammering?' Ron asked.

Harry seemed to find his voice. 'Do you two not realise what you just did?'

Ron and Hermione looked at each other in a confused way before looking back at Harry.

'What did we do?' Ron asked.

'You er…you just prepared each other's breakfasts!'

The two opposite him again looked at each other.

'What? No we-' Ron looked down at his plate and his brow furrowed. He had no recollection of making himself a bacon sandwich.

He looked at Hermione who had had the same thoughts about her cereal and toast.

'I…' she began before stopping.

'Did we…?' Ron asked. '_Did we_?'

'Apparently!' Hermione replied quietly.

Harry shook his head before biting into his toast.

'Weird,' Ron said before picking up half of his sandwich.

'Very,' Hermione added.

The morning's lesson passed without incident and Harry was very relieved to see both Ron and Hermione happy and not arguing, no more than was perfectly normal anyway. In fact he thought they were getting on better than they had in a long time. He didn't mind though, he was just glad they were back to normal. It had been a while.

The mood was dampened slightly when Lavender appeared in full force at break time. Harry, Ron and Hermione came through the portrait hole and walked towards their normal sitting area in the common room. Ron flopped down onto a large squashy chair and Harry sat down on the floor. Hermione perched herself on the arm of another large chair and put her bag on the floor.

Suddenly she burst out laughing. Ron and Harry both looked at her with puzzled and slightly concerned looks on their faces.

'What?' Ron asked Hermione.

She tried to suppress her giggles. 'Nothing, nothing!'

'Hermione you're blatantly lying. Now be a good little Gryffindor and tell us what's making you laugh!' Ron replied.

His condescending remark stop Hermione laughing. 'Well, if you must know,' she started, with a twinkle in her eye. 'I was reliving the moment you told me that you'd fallen asleep on the toilet and spent most of the night sat there!'

Ron's face fell, but Harry roared with laughter, scaring a couple of first years sat close to them.

'You f…fell as…sleep on the toilet?' Harry stammered through his laughter.

Ron glared at Hermione and saw that the biggest grin had appeared on her face. As much as he tried to look offended he couldn't, and he chuckled along with Harry.

'Yes, I did. And you're gonna pay for that!' He said to Hermione.

'Oh _am I_? And what are you gonna do-oo-ooo!'

During the last word of her sentence Ron had grabbed both of her ankles and tipped them upwards so she fell backwards into the armchair, her arms flying in every direction to try and steady her balance. She landed and turned red with embarrassment.

'Oh you are gonna pay for that!' she shrieked.

She grabbed a not too heavy book off the table and threw it at him. He laughed as he easily dodged it – her aim was never the best – then picked up some balled up parchment off the same table and pelted her with it.

'Stop it, that's mean! You know I can't throw to save my life!'

'_Won Wo_-!'

Hermione and Ron stopped still at Lavender's sudden arrival.

'What's going on?' the longhaired witch demanded.

'Nothing!' Ron answered far too quickly.

Hermione quickly righted herself on the chair and started talking loudly to Harry in hope that their conversation would drown out Ron and Lavender's. Ron watched with slight regret that he couldn't carry on talking to his best friends, but quickly brought his attention back to his girlfriend.

'So Lavender…I haven't seen you for a while. You weren't at breakfast…were you?'

She twirled round and before Ron knew it she was sat in his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck.

'No, I wasn't, Parvati was upset and I didn't want to leave her on her own, so I talked to her until we had to go to lessons.'

'Oh, right. Well, that was good of you.'

'Well, that's what friends do!'

Ron looked over and Harry and Hermione.

'Yeah it is. Look Lavender, I'm…gonna have to go in a minute, Hermione…er…left a…book in our room and she has to get it before her next lesson.'

Lavender turned pink with anger. 'But I haven't seen you all _day_!' she shrieked.

Ron smiled. 'But it's only quarter to eleven, there's still plenty of the day left!'

'Yes, I suppose there is.'

'Well I'd better be off.'

He tried to shuffle forwards in his seat but couldn't under the extra weight Lavender was adding to his lap. Before he knew what was happening she had thrown herself towards him and started to kiss him. At first his brain was overwhelmed but after a few seconds he remembered Hermione was sat only a few feet from him and he'd promised to not rub his and Lavender's 'relationship' in her face. He pulled away and she looked slightly put out by the fact Ron had ended the kiss.

He mustered his strength and stood up holding Lavender in his arms and then set her down on her feet.

'See you later Lavender.'

'Wait! I don't even know where your room is?'

'Ah…well you see…' Ron thought about how he could best phrase this so to not cause an upheaval. 'The thing is…only me and Hermione are allowed in there cause it's in the staff wing of the castle and McGonagal doesn't want anyone else knowing how to get in there.'

Lavender looked like she was going to protest so Ron cut her off.

'You can ask McGonagal if you want! She'll tell you the same thing!'

Lavender seemed satisfied that Ron was telling the truth.

'Fine.'

Ron didn't think she was going to move until she saw Ron leave the room. He just and hoped Hermione would play along with what he was about to do.

'Er…Hermione?'

Hermione looked up from Harry who was still sat on the floor.

'Yes,' she replied coolly.

'Er…we'd better go and get that book you've forgotten, we don't want to be late for your next lesson and it'll take a while to get.'

Hermione's brow furrowed as she looked at Ron. She had no idea what he was talking about. Ron's eyes widened slightly as if trying to send her a secret message. She looked at him and saw him tilt his head a fraction towards Lavender, and then a fraction backwards towards the portrait hole.

'The…book I've forgotten?' she asked slowly.

She saw Ron's ears turn red and she knew he was panicking about something.

Ron was staring at Hermione. Why couldn't she have learned Occlumency? He thought desperately. He was willing her to give it a try right now, but he knew that was ridiculous.

'Yeah…_the book for Ancient Runes_, _your next lesson_!' He tried to make it seem like Hermione was being thick by talking in a patronising tone. Unfortunately this was not the way to get Hermione to try and play along with something she knew nothing about.

As she looked at him continue to panic, she thought she had a vague idea of what he was trying to do. A sly smile spread across her face.

'Ron my next lesson is Arithmancy, not Ancient Runes and I have all my books here!'

Ron really started to panic, but then he noticed the smirk on Hermione's face had broadened into a smile. He realised she was being facetious and was trying to make trouble for him. He stole a quick glance at Lavender and she was looking thoroughly confused, he knew it was only a matter of time before she realised he had lied to her.

Ah well, he thought, desperate times call for desperate measures.

He turned, picked up his bag and walked towards the portrait hole.

'Well that's not what you said before we came in here!' he called over his shoulder. 'So either you're lying to me or you're lying to yourself! Now come on, we haven't got much time.'

He had reached the portrait hole and had pushed the portrait forward. He looked back expectantly at Hermione who had half stood up.

As she watched Ron's retreating form she inwardly smirked, unless he physically moved her out of the room, he couldn't go anywhere without both of them ending up in the hospital wing again. Her invisible smirk disappeared, however, when she realised this probably wouldn't bother Ron in the slightest if he was this desperate to escape Lavender. Hang on, she thought, why is he trying to escape from Lavender? Surely things can't be bad in snogging experience paradise?

She pondered her situation for a minute. She really didn't want to end up in the hospital wing, mainly because she didn't want to miss anymore lessons, she had missed enough recently as it was, and as she had already contemplated, she wouldn't put it past Ron to make sure that happened. She resigned herself to the fact that she would have to follow Ron, but she was _not _happy about it!

She picked up her bag and glared at Ron whilst walking through the common room to the portrait hole. She followed him out of it and then followed him as he started to walk down the corridor. She really had no idea where they were going, she really did have all her books for her next lesson, so their destination was a mystery.

'Er…thanks for coming out. I er…I just wanted to be away from…you know…Lavender.'

Hermione looked to her right and knew the solid wall they were walking past was in fact a door leading to another, normally deserted corridor. She shoved Ron towards it and opened it with a flick of her wand.

'What the-?' Ron exclaimed as he was again shoved towards the now open door.

Hermione shut the door behind them.

'Hermione what-?

'Don't you _ever_ use me as an excuse to rid yourself of your girlfriend again! Do you own dirty work, Ron! Don't get your friends to do it for you!'

Ron held up his hands in surrender. 'Okay, okay I won't do it again! I promise! I just…'

'You just what?' Hermione demanded.

'I just…didn't want to make a scene or upset anyone. What I really wanted to do was to talk to you and Harry but I knew she wouldn't leave me alone as long as I was in there.'

He looked at the floor and appeared slightly embarrassed at what he had just said.

Hermione calmed down a bit.

'If you want to break up with the girl just do it!'

'Who said I wanted to break up with her?' Ron said defensively.

'Well, no one, but you certainly don't give the impression of wanting to spend time with her, if you did we wouldn't be stood here would we?'

Ron sighed and didn't reply.

'Look Ron, I don't want to fight again, especially not over _her._ Let's just…get to my lesson. I presume that's where we're going.'

'Yeah, there's nowhere else to go I suppose.'

Hermione opened the door and walked out, careful to hold the door open in case it shut before Ron walked out of the corridor.

They started walking along the original corridor in silence, both looking a bit sulky.

'I'm sorry I used you like that. I won't do it again. I didn't think of it like that, and I didn't want you to see us…you know.'

'It's fine…and…thanks…for the consideration. Just let me know next time and I'll try and help, but you could just do the decent thing and-'

'I know, I know. Just…let me gather up the courage first. It could take a while!'

Hermione giggled. 'Well, you could always tell her you sleep on toilets, that may help!'

Ron laughed. 'You're not gonna let me forget that, are you?'

'Oh no! Not for a _long_ time!'


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the wait people, but Heartfelt Dream was giving me problems and I do them alternately, 'cause it's fair! lol Hope it was worth the wait, I love this one wishes Quidditch was a real life game**

**Please let me know what you think :D Much appreciated.**

**Step ;)**

Chapter 11

'The problem with Hufflepuff is, people tend to underestimate them. They don't take them seriously as an opponent and suffer because of it.'

The members of the Gryffindor team were listening intently to their captain's words.

'So, as much as we played well in the first match we still need to train hard to make sure our standard doesn't fall. We _will not_ let that nasty piece of work Smith beat us, alright?'

A series of 'Yes Harry', 'alright' and 'we'll be fine, Harry' went round the changing room.

Harry looked along the line at his team and smiled. Then his eyes landed on Hermione and he inwardly chuckled. Her head was resting on her hand and she looked entirely bored.

'I think the best thing we can do is try and put them off when they have the quaffle. Obviously our two fantastic Beaters will try and batter them off their brooms, but it might help if we can get two of the Chasers, maybe Ginny and Demelza – you both can look quite vicious if you want to -'

'Hey!' Ginny protested, but with a smile on her face.

'To take positions nearer Ron, then they might find it a bit harder to get through, or might be put off enough to miss.

'Be careful what you say Potter!' Ginny growled. The rest of the team laughed.

'If you can manage to fly this way,' Harry moved his wand over the chart beside him and red arrows followed the tip.

Ginny stood up and walked over to the board and took Harry's wand off him. 'Or here,' she pointed at the chart with the wand, 'that way we'd have a better angle to see if they came from there,' she made a yellow line along the chart to show where the opposition could also come from.

Hermione leaned into Ron. 'If they're going to come and fly near you, why don't they just take a hoop each?' she whispered to him.

'Huh?' Ron grunted.

Harry was still talking to Ginny in the background.

Hermione sighed in frustration. 'Well, aren't they just doing your job if they're gonna sit on either side of you?'

'No, _I'm_ the keeper!'

'Yes I know _that_ Ron!' she hissed, not realising her whispers were getting louder. 'But won't they be-'

'Hermione!' Harry said with a confused look. 'Do you have something to add to the talk? 'Cause if you don't I'd like my keepers attention back with me please!'

Ron scowled at Hermione, and she returned the gesture in full force to Harry. 'Well I was just saying, won't the Chasers, whoever they are get in Ron's way if they're either side of him.'

'_No_!' Ginny said as if she was talking to a five year old. 'We know how to stay out of his way Hermione, we're not gonna be next to him, we'll be in front of him so he can still defend his hoops!'

'So you'll be in front of him, blocking his view of the space in front

of him.'

'Hermione, please, we know how to fly and to help Ron without hindering him, thank you.'

'But if you were gonna be where you just showed on the chart then you will be hindering him.'

'Okay! I think this had better stop. Hermione thank you for your input but I think whichever Chasers are helping defend know not to get in Ron's way.'

Hermione's scowl grew deeper and she slumped back onto the wooden bench, and didn't look up from her lap or the floor for the rest of the talk.

A few minutes later they were walking out of the changing room and onto the pitch. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him back so they were behind the rest of the players.

'You could have supported me!'

'What? You practically told our Chasers they didn't know how to fly without being a nuisance! How was I supposed to support you!'

Hermione looked defiantly at him. 'Well…you…you could have said something! I had a point!'

'A minor one!'

'So! It was still valid!'

'RON! _Come on_! Get in the air!' Ginny screeched from above Ron's head. 'We haven't got all day!'

She soared off towards Harry who was looking over at his friend.

Ron growled in frustration and swung his leg over his broom. He took one last look at Hermione – she was scowling deeply – and kicked off.

Hermione went and sat in the stands. It wasn't raining, although the sky was a very dark grey and she knew it was only a matter of time before the heavens opened. The wind wasn't too bad for playing in, but for Hermione wanting to study it was a nightmare, her parchment would have flown off never to be seen again, so her work stayed firmly shut in her bag which was sat next to her.

There was nothing else for her to do but watch the practice. Ron was keeping the hoops nearest to her so she at least could see the practice properly without having to squint to the other end of the pitch.

Ron was circling his hoops keeping his eyes on the quaffle at all times but his mind kept wandering back to Hermione.

Should I have stuck up for her? He thought. She did have a point, if they fly to near to me then I won't be able to see a thing. If I'd said that Harry and the others might have taken it into consideration, but because it was Hermione-

He was jerked from his thought as the red ball shot towards his right goal. He flew to catch it and caught it deftly in his right hand. He kicked it a long way up the pitch and Demelza shot off to catch it.

His thoughts were back with Hermione. It was true if he'd brought the concern up either Harry or Ginny would have taken it into consideration, but because it was Hermione, it was shouted down. He felt a bit guilty at the thought, he really should have said something.

The crack of a bludger against a bat woke him up to the practice and he focused his eyes just in time to see the quaffle going towards his centre hoop – he had been hovering in front of the left one – and flew towards it. He couldn't catch hold of it but he managed to punch it off course. He followed it as it went towards the edge of the pitch and caught it just before it landed on the ground. When he looked up he realised he was directly in front of Hermione and he looked at her in hope there was some sort of sign she wasn't angry with him anymore. There wasn't; she refused to look at him. He frowned and flew back up to his hoops. He kicked the quaffle hard towards the other end of the pitch. Ginny looked like she was going to shout at him for not concentrating but she seemed to change her mind and flew off after the quaffle.

Ron took the chance to take another look at Hermione. She was still looking annoyed. He saw the Chasers were taking a break from trying to score and were getting a couple minutes of passing in. Ron dipped a few feet lower than his hoops and then turned so he was facing Hermione more than he should be.

'Hermione!' he called. She either didn't hear his call or was ignoring him.

He sighed in frustration and dipped a bit lower.

'_Hermione_! He shouted louder.

She turned her head towards him. 'What?' she mouthed at him.

'RON!' Harry yelled. 'What _are_ you doing?'

Ron turned bright red and flew up towards his hoops in a panic. It was while he was flying towards his right hoop that Coote happened to miss hit a bludger towards the hoops. Ron only got a quick glance at the Bludger before it hit his head with a sickening crack.

'RON!' various people cried, including Harry, Ginny and Hermione.

Ron tried to fight off the black that was edging into his peripheral vision. Before his consciousness was taken from him he managed to fly towards the ground a little, but the he knew no more.

Hermione rushed down the stairs towards Ron, but as she put her foot on the last step she went very dizzy, she swayed as she tried to run towards the crumpled heap that was Ron on the grass but as she took her third step forwards, her legs gave way and she collapsed on the ground. She tried to fight the blackness that was trying to consume her, but like Ron, she failed.

…oooOOOooo…

'Headmaster I just don't know what to do with them! I've never seen anything like this before so I don't know how to treat it!'

'Poppy, calm yourself. I am sure this is merely a side effect of them consuming the half made Amortentia!'

'_Merely a side effect_! As if it wasn't bad enough that Mister Weasley was knocked unconscious by a bludger and then fell twenty feet off his broom, Miss Granger then collapsed for no apparent reason!'

'Poppy, poppy,' Dumbledore said, raising his hands to try and calm the frantic nurse. 'I have a feeling Miss Granger will wake as soon as Mister Weasley does, and you have done a marvelous job with heeling his injuries so I doubt that will be too long. If nothing else his stomach will wake him shortly!'

Madam Pomfrey decided not to argue with the headmaster.

'Now, I think I should just have a quick word with Harry and Ginny to see if they have noticed anything else strange happening with regards to Ron and Hermione. They, more than anyone, will be able to tell us things we would otherwise not find out.'

He turned and walked to the entrance to the hospital wing entrance and opened the door.

Harry was leaning on the door and nearly fell into the headmaster when it was suddenly opened from the other side. Luckily Ginny managed to grab his arm and steady him.

'Good evening Harry, Ginny.'

'Evening professor,' Harry said, recovering from his slight embarrassment.

'Evening professor,' Ginny said with a grin.

'I would just like to ask you some questions about Ron and Hermione. Have you noticed anything…different in the way either of them have behaving recently.'

Harry and Ginny looked at each other before looking at Dumbledore.

'Different, Professor?' Harry asked.

'Yes Harry, different.'

'Er…well…there was one thing…this morning.'

'Go on,' Dumbledore prompted.

'Well…at breakfast this morning, they were talking and bickering, which isn't, strange at all – it's perfectly normal, but whilst they were talking, they made each others breakfasts for them and when they were done, they couldn't remember doing it. They didn't even notice whilst they were doing it, when they were. It was…strange…to say the least!'

'I see. Is there anything else?'

'Er…I don't think so…oh!' an evil grin spread across his face. 'Well, Ron's started sleeping on the toilet but apart from that, no!'

'He what?' Ginny screeched, before laughing out loud.

'Well apparently he fell asleep on the toilet last night!'

'I see,' Dumbledore said with a small smile on his face. 'Well I don't think that has anything to do with their current situation, but their earlier behaviour might be an indication that their er, 'connection' might be getting stronger. I shall have a talk with them tomorrow. Now, I don't think Madam Pomfrey will let you in until the two of them have woken up, and then I have a feeling they will ask to see you, so you will be informed of their awakening. I therefore suggest that you go and change out of your Quidditch robes and go to your common room as there is no point in you hanging round here.'

'I shall see you both soon.'

He walked serenely passed them and after a shrug at each other made their way to the Gryffindor common room.

'I can't believe the stupid git got himself knocked out!' Ginny mumbled.

'It was hardly his fault Jimmy miss hit that Bludger, Ginny,' Harry replied in defence of his best friend.

'It was his fault he was talking to Hermione and not concentrating on the game! If he'd been where he was supposed to be, none of this would have happened.'

'Hmm,' Harry mumbled in reply, he could hardly argue with that.

'Ginny…do you…'

'Do I what?'

'Never mind.'

'Don't do that, it's _so_ annoying! What were you going to say?'

'I…do you think that this…thing…connection…whatever will make them realise…you know…'

Ginny laughed. 'Harry, they've been ignoring _that_ for at least a year, I doubt this connection thing will make that much of a difference, unless of course there are any other unseen side effects we don't know about, but even so, I doubt it.'

'Yeah, I suppose.'

…oooOOOooo…

Ron moaned before opening his eyes. The room around him was dark but he could see the faint glow of candlelight next to him. He tried to lift his head off the pillow but winced with the pain.

'Oww!' he said quietly, through gritted teeth.

Hermione opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around her and her heart sank when she recognised her surroundings as the hospital wing. _What had happened now_?

She heard shuffling in the bed next to her and looked to her right. She saw Ron try and sit up and the image of him being cracked on the head by a bludger flashed through her mind. She physically winced at the memory and hurriedly got off the bed and walked to Ron's bedside.

'Ron?' she asked quietly.

He tried again to lift his head off the pillow.

'Don't you dare try and move!' Hermione demanded as she put a hand on his shoulder stopping him from attempting to get up. 'How painful is it?' she asked quietly.

'Very,' Ron grumbled in reply. His eyes widened when he saw Hermione dressed in the same type of hospital gown he was wearing. 'What happened to you?' he asked, concern filling his voice.

'I er…I passed out just after you. I was coming down the steps when I went dizzy and collapsed, I presume I blacked out.'

'But why!' Ron exclaimed a little louder than his head liked. He winced at the pain.

'Calm down Ron or Madam Pomfrey'll demand I leave you alone and I don't want to leave you, not when you're in this much pain.'

Ron gave a small smile. Hermione continued with her thoughts of an explanation.

'I can only think that it's the potion that's doing this. When you lot were listening intently to Harry I was thinking about what happened last night. It's like you said, you don't normally fall asleep on the toilet, even if you're tired you keep yourself awake until you're nice and safe in bed. Well, apparently, you didn't get the chance too. What if you fell asleep 'cause I did? I was out pretty fast after I'd had a drink and you must have fallen asleep too. It's lucky you were sat down actually, that could have been painful.'

Ron chuckled. 'I don't know which is more embarrassing, falling asleep on the toilet, or falling asleep standing up!'

Hermione chuckled. 'Anyway, maybe the same thing happened when you were knocked out by that Bludger. You were knocked unconscious so I was too. It makes sense.'

'Yeah it does. I guess it's just something else we've got to be careful of.'

'I hope that you're careful about getting knocked unconscious anyway Ronald!' Hermione scolded, but with a smile on her face.'

Ron smiled. 'Of course I am. I don't go looking for trouble, I'm not Harry!'

Hermione laughed, but she soon stopped when she saw Ron wince at the pain in his head again.

'I'll go and get you some pain relief from Madam Pomfrey, I'm surprised she hasn't realised we're awake yet! After that you need to sleep.'

Ron smiled but then frowned. 'But that'll mean you have to sleep too! I don't want-'

'Ron, you've been hit on the head by a Bludger; you need to get some rest. I don't mind, really I don't.'

'Well…if you're sure.'

'I'm sure. I'll go and get your pain relief.'

'Thanks. Oh! Can we eat before we sleep. I'm starving, didn't have time to eat much at tea before Quidditch practice.'

'I know you didn't, I was there remember! I'll ask Madam Pomfrey if you're allowed anything.'

A panic-stricken Ron looked at Hermione. 'Why wouldn't I be able to eat anything?'

Hermione had to laugh at Ron's expression. 'Don't worry Ron, I'm sure you'll be able to eat something!'

She turned to walk towards Madam Pomfrey's office.

'Hermione!' Ron called.

'Yes?'

'Thanks…for this…you know…looking after me.'

Hermione shrugged slightly. 'You did the same for me, I'm just returning the favour.'

'You mean you wouldn't be being this nice if I hadn't been nice to you,' he asked with a cheeky grin.

Hermione scowled but with a half smile on her face. 'Just because you've got a sore head doesn't mean I can't thrown pillows at you!'

Ron laughed. 'With your aim, I'll be fine!'

Hermione chuckled. 'True, but if I aim for the wall you're in serious danger!'


	12. Chapter 12

**Well, I'm sorry for the long delay people, but interviews for a full time job and starting my first full time job have taken up most of my attentions. I'm sure you'll understand, but things will be slower fom now on, this working lark isn't easy you know! lol**

**Hope you like this one, now things can get really interesting! (laughs at evil plan already formulated!)**

**Let me know what you think, cheers**

**Step ;)**

Chapter 12

Hermione opened her eyes and rolled over. Her and Ron were still in the hospital wing. They hadn't tried to breach the subject of being let out of there yet, they thought they'd wait until Ron had had some sleep before trying that one.

She rolled over and watched Ron fidget. She presumed he was awake – she was after all – but she liked the fact that he had his eyes shut; she could look at him without him seeing.

Wait, she thought, where did _that_ come from?

She shook her head a little but didn't take her eyes off Ron. He turned his head a fraction towards her and his fringe fell haphazardly into his eyes. She sat and watched him, wishing that he could fall asleep without her having to do the same. She wanted to see him drift into that blissful place that let him be whatever he wanted to be, and do whatever he wanted to do.

She had only ever watched him sleep once, properly anyway. It was on one of the nights Harry had had a detention with that Umbridge woman the year previous. He had fallen asleep in a chair in a common room and she had caught herself watching him dream, muttering the odd word and smiling at something that his mind was making up. She didn't know how long she watched him for, but it was longer than she liked to acknowledge, she should have been doing her homework.

She sighed knowing she wasn't going to be able watch Ron sleep for a while at the very least. She closed her eyes and curled up into a more comfortable position.

Ron opened his eyes and instantly focused on Hermione's face. He knew she was awake and had been for the past ten minutes, he had, so she had. He was slightly saddened that she was awake, he liked to watch her sleep, he didn't know why, he just did. He loved the fact that she always looked like she was concentrating hard on something, even in her dreams. Even when she was asleep she was working! Amazing really.

He had watched her sleep the previous summer. They had been working hard all day trying to decontaminate Grimmauld Place and she had fallen asleep across the kitchen table. She had gone in to make the two of them some coffee and hadn't come out. Ron had walked in and had smiled at the sight before him. Her brow was furrowed even though she was asleep. He was concerned that Hermione looked worried even in her dreams, but the next moment she had muttered something about her schoolwork and it had been all he could do not to burst out laughing at Hermione dreaming of her lessons. He wasn't surprised though, this was Hermione Granger, the hardest working person he knew.

His head gave a painful throb and he rolled onto his back. He jumped and opened his eyes when someone started hammering on the hospital wing doors.

'What the hell?' he said as he tried to sit up, the pain in his head stopping him from doing fully.

'Ron don't get up.' Hermione said as she sat up.

Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office and opened the double doors a few inches to see who was disturbing the peace of her hospital wing.

'Can I help you Miss…'

'Brown, Lavender Brown.'

Ron swore into his quilt and Hermione laid back down on her bed, sighing in frustration.

'Hermione!' Ron whispered.

'What?' she whispered back.

'Pretend to be asleep!' he said still whispering, his eyes stayed jammed shut.

'Oh for-' Hermione started.

'_Please_ _Hermione_. I really don't want to talk to her. My head's killing me and I think I'm starting to feel a bit sick.'

Hermione knew Ron was lying about feeling sick.

Wait, she thought, how do I know he's lying? Why can I feel that he's lying to me? Why can I feel a shade of guilt that isn't mine?

She didn't have time to contemplate her own questions; Lavender was managing to persuade Madam Pomfrey to let her see Ron for a few minutes.

'Fine!' she whispered back to Ron.

'Well, it looks like they're both asleep,' Madam Pomfrey said to Lavender. 'I don't want them waking up but you can stay with him for a few minutes if you want. Just please don't wake them.'

'I won't Madam Pomfrey, I promise,' Lavender replied.

She made her way through the wing and over to Ron's bed. She pulled the chair as close to his bed as possible without crushing herself between it and the bed and leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the mattress.

'Ron, I know you can't here me, but I'm going to talk anyway.'

Hermione felt a giggle start to form and tried her hardest to suppress its growth. She wasn't sure why she was finding this funny, but she was. Lavender continued her heartfelt talk.

'I'm quite annoyed that I wasn't told about your injury _again_! People seem to be forgetting that I'm your girlfriend and I deserve to know. Especially now that…Ron, I…I think I love you, Ron!'

_Oh please_! Hermione thought, the urge to giggle grew a bit more.

Ron was trying not to shout out loud at her declaration and he hoped that she wouldn't see him turning red. For some reason he also felt the need to laugh, something that he really couldn't do.

'I don't think I've ever felt like this before about anyone,' Lavender continued.

Ron's urge to laugh increased and he had no idea why. Laughing would mean having to talk to Lavender, and having to explain his actions. He started to get angry with himself.

Lavender stopped talking and stared at Ron, tears filled her eyes. They escaped and rolled slowly down her cheeks. Suddenly she threw herself on Ron and hugged him. It was all Ron could do to not open his eyes in shock or pain. Lavender landing on him had caused his head to jerk and throb painfully.

Hermione heard Lavender's sob which accompanied her movement. Not being able to curb her curiosity she slowly rolled onto her side and opened her eyes a fraction. A flame of jealousy flickered inside her head but she couldn't take her eyes off her. _Get off him!_ She thought desperately, she was surprised she hadn't snarled it out loud. As much as she hated seeing Lavender sprawled all over Ron she couldn't tear her eyes away.

The jealousy inside her grew as she watched Lavender squeeze Ron's hand and stroke his arm. Before she did something very un-Hermione like she shut her eyes and slowly rolled onto her other side, so she could no longer see Ron using Lavender as an interactive blanket.

To his credit Ron was trying extremely hard to ignore Lavender's affections. The pain in his head had gone, but now he was trying not to giggle at the tickling sensation moving up and down his arm. As he was lying in the darkened room he started, for the second time in the last five minutes, feeling emotions that he couldn't believe were his. He got a squirming feeling in his stomach and it unsettled him. He tried to pin down what he was feeling, he had felt it before but he couldn't remember when. He couldn't feel Lavender trace the veins on his arm anymore; he was too deep in thought.

He had a vision in his head but it was a vague one, there were a lot of people around him, but he wasn't paying them any attention. Without realising it he screwed up his eyes in concentration, (luckily Lavender didn't notice) and tried his hardest to remember why he had felt…strange.

The squirming in his stomach got worse, and that's when the memory came to him in full force. He was sat at the Breakfast table and was looking at Hermione, she had just told Parvati that she was taking McGlaggen to Slughorn's Christmas party. It was then that he felt the same squirming as he was now. It was jealousy. But why was he feeling jealousy now?

'Miss Brown, I'm afraid it is time for you to leave, you have to be in your common room in five minutes,' Madam Pomfrey said quietly, tapping Lavender on the shoulder gently.

With a melodramatic sigh Lavender lifted herself off Ron and took one last look at him. She closed her eyes and leant forward towards Ron.

'_Now_ Miss Brown!' Madam Pomfrey said sternly, gripping Lavender just above the elbow and stopping her leaning any nearer Ron.

Lavender sighed indignantly and stormed out of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey watched her leave and then turned back to face Ron and Hermione.

'Your potion is on the bedside cabinet Mister Weasley for when you decide to stop pretending to be asleep. At least Miss Granger opened her eyes whilst Miss Brown was in the room!'

She turned away from Ron and walked back to her office. 'Although I understand why she shut them again!' she muttered to herself.

When Ron thought he had waited long enough for Madam Pomfrey to disappear he opened his eyes and rolled over towards Hermione.

'So you opened your eyes then? You do realise she could have seen you?'

Hermione rolled over to face Ron so he would get the full force of her glare.

'Believe me Ron, there was no chance of her seeing _me_, she only had eyes for _you_!' she hissed.

Ron watched as Hermione rolled over and it was then he felt that strong surge of jealousy course through him again. His brow furrowed as he tried to think about why he was feeling jealous of all things.

As he watched Hermione shuffle under her quilt everything fell into place. It wasn't _him_ that had been feeling jealous, it was Hermione!

'It was you that was dying to burst into laughter!' he exclaimed before thinking any more.

Hermione rolled back to face Ron.

'What?' she asked.

'Before, when Lavender was…in here, you wanted to laugh!'

'I know I did, she was saying the funniest things in the world…but, how do you know I wanted to laugh?'

Her brow furrowed and she looked at Ron, confused.

'I felt it!'

Hermione's eyes widened. 'What do you mean you felt it!' she asked in a very confused tone, but then her expression turned to horror.

'Did you feel what I was feeling?' she screeched, sitting up as she did so.

'Yes!' Ron replied at the same volume.

'There's no need to shout!' she replied in a quieter tone.

Ron ignored Hermione's comment even though it caused him physical pain to not try and correct her. 'Do you think this is because of our connection?'

'Well there's hardly any other explanation _is there_!' she again screeched.

'Hermione calm down! Why are you getting so wound up?'

A small smirk appeared on his face, he knew that Hermione had realised he had more than likely felt her jealousy towards Lavender.

'Did you er…' Hermione started, trying not to let her concern show through her words. 'Did you er…feel anything else?'

Her tone was innocent but Ron saw right through it.

'No, no,' he answered lightly, but the smirk on his face showed he was lying.

Hermione blushed deeply.

'_Well this is bloody perfect isn't it_?' she snarled.

Ron was shocked to hear Hermione swear.

'Language Hermione!' he said with a grin on his face.

'You can wipe that smile off your face too. You do realise what this means, don't you?'

Ron stopped smiling and started to think about the situation. His brow furrowed in concentration.

Hermione smirked. 'Didn't think so!'

'Alright Miss Know-It-All, what does it mean?'

The smirk fell off Hermione's face and she reddened with anger.

'It means, _Ronald_, that we won't have any privacy, AT ALL! Anything you feel I'll feel, and _vice versa_! _Merlin, my own feelings aren't even my own anymore_!'

She had thrown herself back on her bad and started pummelling the mattress with her clenched fists.

'Merlin Hermione, calm down! It's not that bad!' Ron said, startled at her reaction.

'Yes it is!' she snapped back at him.

'No it's not,' he sat up in his bed so he could see her better, only wincing ever-so-slightly at the pain in his head. 'Look, the way I see it…we know that much about each other anyway, that knowing each other's feelings won't be too much of a big thing!'

'Ron do you tell me everything?' she demanded.

'What?'

'You heard me!'

'Well, no I suppose I don't tell you everything!'

'Exactly, and you have your reasons for that, and I have my reasons for not telling you things too. Well us having the choice of what we tell each other is about to disappear. I know, we aren't actually reading each other's minds or seeing each other's memories but its still an invasion of privacy!'

Ron fell silent, he hadn't thought about it like that.

'Look Hermione, there's nothing we can do about it. It's just something else we have to get used to.'

She sighed and closed her eyes.

_This is _not_ good_, she thought.

'Hermione, it might not be as bad as we think. I mean, I can feel you're angry at the minute, but I'm guessing that's because you're _really_ angry, so I'm guessing that we can only feel each other's emotions when they're really strong, so it won't be all the time.'

Hermione smirked. 'The thing is Ron, normally our strongest emotions are the ones we want to hide.'


	13. Chapter 13

**And I breathe a huge sigh of relief! lol I'm sooo sorry it took me so long to get this out, but the 21 reviews really did help get my arse in gear! See they do work!**

**I promise it won't be as long next time! fingers crossed lol Let me know what you think.**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 13

Ron sighed loudly as he looked up from the desk in front of him. He had been sat in the library for 9 minutes and already he was huffing and puffing as if he'd been waiting for Hermione for hours.

Hermione was between the bookshelves behind Ron and could hear his most unsubtle protests loud and clear. She didn't change what she was doing though; she wasn't leaving until she had found the information she was looking for.

After a couple more minutes of huffing and puffing Ron stood up and stormed around to Hermione. He glared at her as she glared at the text in front of her.

'Are you done yet?' Ron asked rudely.

'No I'm not, I would have come and found you if I had, like I said I would,' she replied calmly.

'But we've been here _ages_!'

His tone was uncannily like a five-year-old's and she rolled her eyes.

'Ron it's barely been ten minutes, go and sit down, I'll come over when I'm finished. _Like I said I would_!'

Ron sighed irritably for the eleventh time since he had entered the library.

'You know it was one of our rules to not spend excessive time in the library you know!'

'Yes, I know.'

Ron was slightly stumped by Hermione's lack of argument and her simple agreement.

'Well…the least you can do is stick by our rules!'

Hermione still refused to look at Ron and continued to read the heavy book she was looking through.

He looked at her profile and was slightly maddened by how much she was frustrating him. She wasn't getting angry with him or anything really. Ron knew his behaviour would have normally sparked some kind of reaction, but today she was being very calm. Too calm, like she was deliberately stopping herself getting angr-.

Ron's eyes widened in surprise. He looked around him trying to work out which part of the library he was in. He squinted at the dusty sign that was hanging at the end of the row of books but couldn't make out the scripted writing on the swinging wooden sign.

'Helpful!' he muttered to himself as he took a few steps towards it. Still he couldn't make out the writing so he cautiously took his wand out of his robes, watching for a lurking Madam Pince as he did so - wands weren't allowed in the library – and muttered 'Lumos'. He shone his wand light on the mysterious words above him.

'Legilimency?' he said louder than was necessary as he walked back to Hermione. He noticed she had gone the slightest shade of red in her cheeks. He studied her for a minute, and thought he saw her eyes flicker towards him instead of being intimately focused on the words in front of her.

'Hermione, its each other's _feelings_ we can feel, we can't read each other's _minds_!' He said with a large smirk.

He soon stopped though, when Hermione slammed the book she was holding shut, only inches away from her nose, and banged it down on the shelf in front of her.

'_Yes Ron_!' she hissed with so much venom Ron wouldn't have been surprised if a serpent had possessed her. 'I am _perfectly_ aware of our situation; I am trying to find away to stop it happening. The last thing I need is you knowing _every little thing I feel_!'

Ron frowned. 'Closing yourself off to me isn't going to help anything you know,' he said quietly.

A thought came to him, but he wasn't sure if he could pull it off.

'If you stopped talking to me again, or even if you stopped being your normal self around me, I'd be…well…'

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the way he felt when he'd missed Hermione over the past few weeks, when hostile was as good as it got between them. He felt sad, frustrated and the tiniest bit of jealousy when she was talking to Harry instead of talking to Harry _and him_.

'Ron wha-'

Hermione turned to look at Ron and he opened his eyes, still concentrating on what he'd felt.

Hermione's eyes glazed over slightly as she let herself feel Ron's emotions.

After a minute she broke the silence.

'I think you made your point,' she said quietly.

Ron took a deep breath and tried to wipe the feelings from his mind.

'Good,' he replied simply.

'I er…I missed you to.'

Ron looked at Hermione and saw another wave of red cover her cheeks and spread down her neck.

'I don't like it when we're not ourselves around each other. It's not…_normal_.'

'But Ron, nothing about this,' she moved her hand between the two of them, 'can be considered normal!'

'I know, I know. Look, find a way to block this feelings…connection…thing off between us if you want, just don't stop being the Hermione I love,' he'd come to the end of his breath and needed to pause to breath before he coughed, Hermione's eyes widened ever so slightly, he took a breath, 'to argue with!'

Hermione closed her eyes and a small smile crept on to her face.

'I won't.'

She turned back to the book she had slammed on the shelf and put it back in it's proper place between two huge leather bound books.

'Come on,' she said as she picked her bag off the floor, 'I think I've subjected you to far too long in the library. You'll start to feel ill soon!'

Ron laughed. 'Finally!'

He followed Hermione around the bookshelves and bent down to pick up his bag from under the table he had been sat at.

'Do you want to go to the Great Hall for dinner? I know we'll be early but we could do some homework or something.'

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and her jaw dropped.

'I'm sorry, did you just say '_we could do some homework or something'_?'

'_Ha bloody ha_! You know I did! As much as I don't like doing homework I do understand that I have to do it, as much as my Quidditch and chess playing part of my brain tries to deny that fact!'

Hermione started walking again and caught up with Ron.

'It also means I'll be first at the dinner table when food arrives!'

'Ah, now we have the _real_ reason why you want to get there early!'

'Well it's Thursday! They do Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding on a Thursday. I get really annoyed if I miss it!'

'You know if you concentrated as much on your schoolwork as you did on Quidditch and your food you'd do a lot better!'

'I know!' Ron replied with a smile.

Hermione started giggling, but stopped when she whipped her head round to look behind them and stopped in her tracks once again.

'What is it?' Ron asked.

'I just thought I saw something…a shadow maybe.'

Ron stepped in front of Hermione and peered back into the shadow-filled corridor they had just walked through. The fact that it was quarter to five and the middle of winter meant the torches only did a little to help the student see their way through the darkened castle. He squinted but couldn't see anything.

'It's probably nothing,' Hermione said after a few seconds. 'Come on, you don't want to miss your favourite food!'

Ron turned and followed Hermione. They walked through the castle and arrived at the Great Hall. There were only five other people in there. Two at the Gryffindor table at the far end and three sat at the Ravenclaw table in the middle.

They sat down in their usual spot on the Gryffindor table and Hermione set about taking her books out of her bag. Ron was about to follow when a well-built boy who was roughly the same size Ron was when he was sat down, hurried up to him.

'Ron, can I have a quick word about Quidditch? If you're not busy of course!' Jimmy Peakes said in a rush once he had come to a hurried stop next to Ron.

'Yeah, why not? What do you want to talk about?'

'Well, would you mind just coming up to our end of the table, we've got something we'd like to show you, but we're disagreeing over the minor points. We were wondering if you'd tell us what you think.'

Ron sighed at the thought of having to get up but decided it would be wrong to demand the two of them bring their absolutely massive pile of books about Quidditch.

'Alright, but not too long okay, I have homework to start!'

Hermione looked up from her books and gave Ron a 'yeah right' look. He simply grinned at her in return.

Hermione watched as Ron walked, or stalked in a superior fashion over to Jimmy's place at the table. Hermione laughed as she watched them sit down and Jimmy start animatedly explaining whatever it was he wanted to talk to Ron about. She was brought from her observing from a voice next to her left ear.

'Thinks he's Merlin's gift doesn't he?'

The familiar drawl made Hermione snap her head round to look at Malfoy's grey eyes. He heavily sat down on the bench facing away from the table.

'What do you want Malfoy?' Hermione snarled.

'Nothing particular Granger, I just thought I'd spend the few minutes I have before dinner tormenting you. It seems like such a good idea, don't you think?'

'What a sad pathetic life you must lead if tormenting me is the only form of entertainment you have to fill your time Malfoy. Although I knew that anyway, you just confirmed it.'

Malfoy paled and his eyes narrowed as he surveyed Hermione.

'Pathetic? You'd know all about pathetic wouldn't you Granger, fawning over that pathetic excuse of a wizard when he doesn't even realise how much you like him. However stupid that in itself is!'

Hermione felt anger bubble inside her. She detested the way Malfoy spoke about Ron, like he was second rate. He was anything but second rate.

'Ron will always be better than you Malfoy, at everything!'

Malfoy threw his head back as he laughed out loud.

'Well you would say that, now that you have to spend every waking, and every other moment of the day with him, wouldn't you? I don't know who I feel more for, you having to witness his clumsy antics and half-arsed attempts at every spell and potion he does, or him for not being able to escape a Mudblood's presence!'

Hermione bit back her retort. _He's not worth it Hermione, just ignore him. He's just sad and pathetic_.

Hermione opened her books and tried to concentrate on the words in front of her, hoping Malfoy would become bored of her and leave.

Malfoy noticed the change in her and a smirk slid across his face. He swung his leg over the bench so he was now directly facing her, even thought she was staring resolutely at the book in front of her.

'I don't even know why you're going after Weasley, Granger. Even though the lot of them are scum they're still Pureblood. They'll never let you marry him, can't allow you to contaminate the bloodline now, can they? You can be the smartest witch in the world and it'll never impress them. It's not what's in here that counts,' he tapped the top of her head with his finger, 'its what runs through your veins that matters. You should have figured that out by now. _Filthy little Mudblood_.'

Hermione was trying her hardest not to cry. It was one of those things that she had thought about once and once only, the fact that if anything ever did happen between her and Ron, he and the whole of his family were Pureblood and she was Muggle born, would anyone care? The sensible part of her brain told her that the Weasley's didn't care about the so-called 'purity' of blood, but there was the part of her brain that had read far too many books that told the reader that purity of blood was paramount in maintaining wizarding and magical tradition.

Malfoy's words had hit a nerve, a painful one at that, and he knew he'd upset her. Her upset overwhelmed her and it was all she could do to control the sobs that she could feel building in her throat.

Malfoy had seen the tears that now glistened in her eyes and he smirked at his achievement.

'See Granger, you know I'm right. People like Potter can tell you as many times as he wants that bloodline doesn't count. But you know deep down that it does.'

He was about to carry on his little speech when a fist flew at him and punched him in the jaw, right before he was picked up off the bench and thrown on the floor.

Ron had felt Hermione's sudden change in mood and was alarmed when he felt so unbelievably hurt and upset, and realised that it was Hermione feeling that way. He had looked up from the drawings of Quidditch tactics Jimmy was showing him and spotted Malfoy's blond hair next to Hermione at the other end of the table. As another wave of hurt washed over him he stood up and sprinted down the side of the table, robes flying out from behind him, and stopped behind Hermione so he could hurt Malfoy. He hadn't meant to hit him quite that hard, but he hadn't counted on Malfoy's mouth being open and his jaw, therefore, being quite that vulnerable to damage. He had a suspicion he had just broken Malfoy's jaw. But he didn't care about that at the minute, he had other things to deal with.

'Hermione are you all right? Did he hurt you? What happened? How did he upset you?'

Hermione was in a slight state of shock. Her eyes flicked between Malfoy writhing on the floor in pain and Ron's concerned eyes.

'_Hermione what happened. Tell me_!'

'He er…he was saying…things. Oh Ron, you shouldn't have hit him, you'll get into serious trouble!'

'I don't care about that. I felt how he was making you feel. No one is allowed to make you feel like that Hermione! _No one_!'

Hermione whimpered as the tears finally fell from her eyes. Ron sat down where Malfoy had been and put his hand on Hermione's shoulder.

'What did he say to y- Aaahh!'

He slumped forward towards Hermione and his hand went to the bottom of his neck. Hermione looked at him in surprise and then saw Malfoy had hexed Ron from the floor, having recovered enough to find his wand and his vindictive streak.

Hermione fumbled for her wand but before she managed to find it in her robes, Professor McGonagal had entered the Great Hall after being found by one of the Ravenclaws – they thought they should tell someone about the 'fight' that had broken out in the Great Hall – and disarmed Malfoy.

'What on earth is going on here? A fine example our prefects are setting the rest of the school. The three of you follow me NOW!'

Malfoy instantly tried to seem more injured than he was. 'Malfoy stop performing, you have only been hit in the jaw, this does not stop you from walking to my office!'

Malfoy scowled as well as he could whilst his face was giving him so much pain. He rolled onto his front and stood up, gingerly feeling his jaw.

'Follow me!' McGonagal demanded.

She pointed towards the entrance to the hall and slowly Malfoy, Ron and Hermione stood and started walking to the Professor's office.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry this took so long. Let me know what you think.**

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Chapter 14

'Shut the door Malfoy!' McGonagal barked at the blond wizard.

He sighed as best as he could through his broken jaw and shoved the door closed. It banged shut loudly.

'Right! Which one of you is going to tell me exactly what happened in the Hall?'

The three students stared resolutely at the floor and said nothing.

McGonagal sighed in an irritated fashion.

'Well it is obvious the three of you aren't going to speak, so I will have to insist on private interviews. Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, please wait outside while I talk to Mister Malfoy.'

Hermione and Ron nodded and left the room.

Ron closed the door behind them and sighed loudly. He leant against the wall next to the Professors' door and slid down it until he was sat on the floor. After a few seconds of just looking at him, Hermione moved to sit next to him. He looked up when she joined her on the floor.

He felt strange; he thought it might be because he couldn't distinguish his emotions from Hermione's. There was anger, frustration and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on.

'I know you're angry with me,' he said. 'I can feel it.'

'What?' Hermione said, looking at Ron. 'I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with myself. If I hadn't let Malfoy get to me then you wouldn't've felt you needed to do what you did. Thanks by the way.'

He sighed in relief. 'You're welcome. What did he say that got you that upset?'

Hermione thought for a minute and all the things that Malfoy had said, namely spelling out her worst nightmare, came flooding back to her.

'Merlin, he really got to you didn't he?' Ron said, as he experienced everything Hermione was feeling.

He rested is head against the wall behind him.

'It was…look, I have a feeling McGonagal will ask me to tell her the same thing, so, do you mind if I only say this once? You won't have to wait long.'

'No, that's okay. I don't mind. But…'

'But what?'

'Well…sometimes people don't say things even though they should because they don't want to upset their friends or…whatever. Don't let Malfoy get away with hurting you like that because you don't want me to be upset…not that I know what it is he said, but I just…have a hunch it's about me. Even if you think it'll upset me, tell McGonagal. You can't let him get away with what he did.'

'Er…okay…'

'Plus on a purely selfish level,' he said with a small smile on his face, 'the worse you make his actions out to be, the more justified I'll feel about having broken his jaw!'

Hermione smiled with him. 'Do you want me to act like it was worse so McGonagal thinks in a similar way?'

'If you could that would be great!'

Ron chuckled and so did Hermione. Ron felt the squirming in his stomach reduce slightly.

'What do you reckon your punishment will be?' Hermione asked.

'You mean _our_ punishment?'

'Oh Merlin! I can't believe you're gonna get me in detention for the first time in my Hogwarts history!'

'_First time_? Need I remind you of the dragon smuggling incident?'

'Yes well…that was different!'

'Uh huh! Of course it was!'

'It was! I was naïve and you two were very bad influences on me! Plus we…we were helping a friend out. As much as I hated the thought of getting into trouble we couldn't leave the situation how it was. And anyway, Hagrid would have got into more trouble for raising a dragon than we would for being caught out of bed at midnight.'

'You care a lot about people, don't you?'

Ron was slightly astonished about what had just come out of his mouth. Why was he talking to Hermione about feelings? He tried to answer his question in a way that would make him feel better but all he could come up with was, because it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

'Yeah…of course I do…my friends anyway…'

'You do stuff like that though, without even thinking about the consequences for yourself. As long as everyone else is okay then you'll do what it takes for that to happen.'

Now he was scaring himself, he was downright praising Hermione to her face, something he never did, well, not much anyway, but it didn't feel wrong. He was confused, very confused.

'Well…if you think about it, it can be quite a selfish thing to do.'

'How in the name of Merlin do you come to that conclusion?'

'Well if you think about it, if you're sat in a room where there are a few people but someone is sat in the middle of them upset or whatever, then the rest of them can hardly ignore it. Everyone gets tense either because they can't help or aren't being allowed to help so in the end the upset spreads to everyone. So the more you try and keep people happy, the more good it'll do to everyone else.'

'So, you keep people happy, so other people will be happy too.'

Hermione thought for a second.

'Yeah I suppose.'

'That's anything but selfish Hermione, and it's what I was talking about before. Please don't let Malfoy get away with treating you like that just to not upset me. I'll get over it, whatever he said. I tend to ignore what comes out of his mouth anyway. Although until he gets it fixed that should be hugely reduced!'

Hermione smiled.

'I have a feeling McGonagal will have done something about that. How do you think he's answering her questions?'

'Oh, right. Hermione,' he rubbed his eyes with his palms, 'why haven't you shouted at me for hitting Malfoy. You're always the first to try and stop me getting violent and normally it works.'

'Well, in hindsight it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but at the time I was just grateful that you stopped him…saying…what he was saying. It wasn't nice to listen to.'

Ron was about to open his mouth when footsteps echoed in the room behind them. As they got nearer to the door Ron stood up and pulled Hermione to her feet.

The door opened and Malfoy stepped out, looking furious.

'Wait here Malfoy,' McGonagal barked. 'You two, IN!'

Ron followed Hermione into the office.

'_Sit_!' McGonagal instructed. The pair of students daren't disobey.

'Now, first things first. Are you injured Weasley? I witnessed Malfoy's attack on you, is your back alright?'

Ron was taken aback by the disappearance of the harsh tone in McGonagal's words.

'Oh, er…yeah it's okay. It was just a stinging hex I think, the pain disappeared pretty quickly.'

'Good, Right then, back to the matter in hand.'

Both Hermione and Ron quickly looked at the floor.

'From what Malfoy has told me he was talking to you, Miss Granger, when you, Weasley attacked him for no reason.'

Ron went to talk but was stopped by the harsh look McGonagal gave him.

'As it happens I don't believe that you would hit Malfoy without what you believed was a good reason, so I am giving you the chance to explain your actions.'

Ron cleared his throat and glanced quickly at McGonagal before looking back down at the floor.

'Well I…er…I knew Malfoy was making Hermione really upset-'

'How, exactly did you know that, Weasley? From what I have been told you were at the other end of the hall talking to two younger Gryffindors. Unless of course you were shouting and screaming the situation for the whole hall to hear. Was that the case Miss Granger?'

Hermione shook her head. 'No Professor.'

'So, how exactly did you know that Miss Granger was being made upset by whatever Malfoy was doing or saying, Weasley?'

Hermione looked at Ron and gave him a small smile of encouragement.

'Er well…we er…we can feel each other's feelings. Not all the time, but if one of us is feeling something really strongly, then the other can feel it too. That's how I knew that Hermione was upset, and it wasn't just a little bit, it was a lot. I know it wasn't the best thing to do, punching him, but I had to get him away from her and to stop him making her feel like that.'

He sighed and took a nervous glance at Hermione, and then McGonagal. He was shocked to see McGonagal looking stunned. Her mouth was open and she was staring at him.

'Do you mean to tell me that you two have an emotional connection?'

Ron looked at Hermione, not sure whether that was what they actually had.

'I think that's the best way of describing it Professor,' Hermione answered. We discovered it last night. I went to the library today to look up the condition but I didn't find anything about it, so I looked in the Legilimancy and Occlumency books to see if there were any techniques that we could adapt to this emotional connection, but I couldn't. I suppose Professor Slughorn is the best person to talk to, he said he'd seen this type of thing before.'

'Yes,' McGonagal said quietly. 'I think that is probably the best thing to do Miss. Granger. I shall talk to him later on. But at the minute I need to know what Malfoy was saying to you. If Weasley is correct in his interpretations of your feelings then I need to know what happened. If he was bullying you in any way then I need to know.'

Hermione took a deep breath and chanced a quick glance at Ron. He caught her eye and tried his hardest to tell her to tell McGonagal everything, no matter how much it might hurt him, in that one look.

'Well I was sat doing some work when he came and sat down next to me.'

She thought as quickly as she could of a way to phrase what Malfoy had said so she didn't have to mention Ron's name at all. It was tricky to say the least. After a while she realised there wasn't a way of doing it.

'He started talking about Ron and was being nasty about him, but I don't think Ron'll disagree with me saying that's nothing unusual. Any chance he gets to insult Ron or Harry he grabs with both hands.'

Ron shrugged and nodded in agreement.

'But after that he started talking about me, and how…and how if I ended up…seeing…a Pureblood wizard, then it didn't matter how intelligent I was or how much he said me being a Mud-…Muggle Born didn't bother him or his family, I wouldn't be able to marry them, or whatever, because ultimately the family wouldn't want the bloodline ruined. Then of course he added his usual line of 'Filthy Little Mudblood.'

All of this had come out at an increasing speed and Hermione desperately tried to go through it again in her mind to see if she had let slip about it being the Weasley's Malfoy had been talking about. She didn't get through much of what she remembered before McGonagal spoke.

'Thank you Miss. Granger, rest assured Malfoy will be punished for his discriminative views. The fact still remains, however, that violence is not something we tolerate here at Hogwarts, as you well know Weasley. I therefore have no choice but to punish you too. Unfortunately in your current situation that also means Miss. Granger will also have to suffer the consequences, but there is nothing I can do about that. I shall send word of your punishment to you tomorrow morning. You may go.'

Hermione and Ron nodded to show they had understood the Professor and then turned to walk out of her office.

'Oh, Professor?'

'Yes Miss. Granger.'

'I just thought I'd tell you, Malfoy knows about Ron and me and how we can't leave each other's presence. I was just wondering if you could do anything about him…well not spreading it about. If it's not too much trouble.'

'Thank you for informing me Miss. Granger, I will do what I can.'

'Thank you Professor.'

Ron and Hermione opened the door and walked out. They turned left and started walking along the corridor, ignoring Malfoy who was sat on the right hand side of the door.

'Think you're a big man don't you Weasley, the Mudblood was in distress and you couldn't wait to play the Knight in shining armour, could you? I said it to Granger earlier and I'll say it to you now; you're pathetic, the both of you, you're meant for each other and you're all each other deserve!'

'MALFOY!' McGonagal shouted from inside her office.

Ron grinned as Malfoy scowled and seemed to shrink a few inches in height after his scolding.

'Be a good little wizard Malfoy and trot along, you don't want to get into any more trouble now, do you?'

Ron turned and to Hermione's surprise, took her hand and pulled her along after him.

'Don't you just love seeing Malfoy in trouble.'

Hermione had yet to get over the fact that Ron had just taken her hand and intertwined his fingers between hers.

As much as she was shocked, she couldn't help but feel tingles run up her arm from where his hand touched hers. She tried desperately to suppress the happiness she could feel growing, that was something she really didn't need Ron knowing.

'Er…yes, yes it's great. Er…Ron…'

Hermione could feel her sensible side coming back into gear, as much as she wanted it to ignore the current situation.

'What?' Ron asked, still grinning, and still oblivious to the fact that he was holding Hermione's hand.

'Well, as much as this is nice,' she went ever so slightly red after she had said that, 'I don't think we need people to taking this the wrong way.'

She gestured to their interlinked hand with her left hand.

'What? Oh!' Ron stared at their hands but didn't let go.

After a few seconds he seemed to come out of his shock and let go of Hermione's hand.

'Sorry, I didn't mean…sorry.'

He went a very deep shade of red and stared at the floor. He started walking again at a slightly quicker pace than before. Before he got too far Hermione grabbed his arm and stopped him.

'No, I didn't mean it wasn't nice; I just didn't want it to cause trouble between you and Lavender that's all. You know how fast gossip and rumours spread around here. The last thing both of us need is more stress on top of everything else.'

Ron scuffed the floor with his shoe.

'Yeah, okay.'

Hermione smiled, trying to reassure Ron he hadn't offended her in any way. After a few seconds she let go of his arm and started to walk down the corridor.

'It was me and my family wasn't it? Who Malfoy was talking about…the whole…Pureblood thing. He was saying that if anything ever happened…well…you know…that they wouldn't accept you, wasn't he?'

Hermione stopped still and turned slowly on the spot. She felt a bit sick; she didn't want Ron to find out about that, but he'd worked it out, of course he had.

She sighed.

'Yes, yes it was.'

Ron brought his gaze up to Hermione's and their eyes locked.

'You didn't believe him did you?' he asked with panic in his voice. 'You know I'd-we'd never think that! They think of you like another daughter for Merlin's sake! If I asked you to marry me there'd be no question of acceptance!'

He stopped as he realised what he had just said.

'I mean…not that…if I…'

'It's okay Ron, I know what you meant, and I know…_that…_too. It's just one of those things that you only give thought to once, and only when you're upset or doubting yourself, and I'll admit…it had crossed my mind, but I know it would never be an issue.'

'Good, because it wouldn't. Ever.'

They stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.

'Come on,' Hermione said after half a minute. 'Let's see if there's some of your favourite dinner left. I think you deserve it.'

Ron smiled. 'Yeah, I think we both do.'


	15. Chapter 15

**Heh! So I finally updated! I know it's been a loooong time, and I'm really sorry for that but in my defence I've been trying to get this chapter down for a couple of weeks now. But because I've kept you all waiting so long it's twice as long as my normal length chapters, I thought you deserved a treat for all the reviews you've been giving this story. (Plus there was nowhere to break it and I didn't really want this to drag into two chapters, but that's beside the point!) I've also been busy co-authoring something else, anyone who visits my lj, may have some idea of what I'm on about, and I'm really enjoying that, but don't worry, now that Heartfelt Dream is coming to an end, this is at the forefront of my writing list! I'm having too much fun with this for it not to be!**

**So anyway, on with the chapter...let me know what you think :D. Step ;)**

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Chapter 15

It had been three days since Ron and Hermione had been issued with 'their' punishment. They were at breakfast when a harsh looking owl had delivered a letter to Ron, stating where and when he and Hermione were expected to be that night, and for the next three nights. If Hermione's suspicions were correct, then McGonagal had been way to soft on Ron, and it was hardly a punishment for her either.

All she had to do was sit in the empty classroom Ron was cleaning (without magic) and do whatever she wanted to. If she felt like doing nothing, then she could, however, most of the time she did her homework, (and only watched Ron on occasion, when he wasn't looking of course!).

On the morning of their last detention Hermione woke up and made her way to the bathroom. As she made her way there she managed to open her eyes properly, only just though, and by the time she had got to the bathroom she had closed them again. She took a step into the doorway of the bathroom and was immediately buffeted backwards by the invisible force blocking the doorway.

'What the hell?' she said after she had just about regained her balance.

'RON! What are you doing in the bathroom? You always let me in first!'

She had a feeling today was going to be one of those days where everything irritated her, just because!

'Huh?' Ron shouted through the barrier

'Oh very loquacious Ron!'

'Huh?'

'Oh for Merlin's sake! How long are you going to be?'

'I dunno, ten minutes?'

'TEN MINUTES!' she screeched. 'I _never_ take that long. You'll be five minutes and be grateful!'

She turned around and stormed back to her bed. She was annoyed to say the least, she had a routine and this morning Ron had turned it on its head. She grumbled to herself, then decided that she might as well get herself dressed. Even if it was out of her normal order.

Unfortunately for Ron he was longer than five minutes, and it took Hermione all of two minutes to get dressed, so she had a good eight minutes to get herself even more annoyed at the red head.

When he finally resurfaced from the bathroom it was with a frown on his face and with his fringe covering as much of it as possible. Hermione didn't bother asking why he had been so long, that could wait, she really needed to brush her teeth!

When she emerged from the bathroom, now ready to go down to breakfast she ignored Ron until she could do it no longer.

'Ready?' she snapped.

Ron shrugged and stood up off the bed.

'You could at least have the decency to answer my question properly!' she hissed at him.

'Oh give it a rest Hermione! I'm coming!'

He stormed past her and left the room. Hermione had to stretch to catch the door from shutting and therefore rendering the both of them unconscious. She tutted loudly but Ron didn't hear her, he was too far down the corridor.

She caught up to him and tried to keep up with his pace without running, but she couldn't.

'Ron slow down! I can't keep up with you!'

He sighed irritably and slowed down so Hermione could keep up with him.

'What's wrong with you this morning?' she asked him.

'What's wrong with _me_? I'm not the one who was screeching through the bathroom door! Why are _you_ all uptight?'

'I asked you first! Don't think you're getting out of answering my question by asking me one in return.'

He sighed again. 'Fine!'

He continued walking without adding to his one word answer.

'_Well_?'

'Well what?' he asked, actually stopping and turning towards her.

Hermione glare at him but then decided she couldn't be bothered with his attitude this morning.

'Oh forget it!'

They carried on walking and arrived at the breakfast table to find Harry not there yet. They sat in their own little worlds for a minute before starting to make their breakfast. It was only as Hermione was cutting the bacon sandwich she had just made in half, and as Ron put down the milk bottle he had just emptied into a bowl of cereal that they realised they had, once again, made each other's breakfast.

It was the fourth time they had done it, and they were now used to it. They raised their eyebrows at each other and pushed the other's breakfast to them.

'You know, you do get the amount of milk just right!' Hermione said with a puzzled smile.

Ron managed a half smile.

'Well, it has to be said you put just the right amount of tomato sauce on the bacon,' he said quietly. 'It's strange isn't it? We've never asked each other how much milk or sauce we put on our breakfast, but we both know how the other likes it. This connection thing is…weird to say the least!'

'Well it might not be the connection you know,' Hermione replied.

'What else could it be? We certainly didn't make each other's breakfasts before we swallowed Harry's potion did we?'

'No, I know _that_ Ron, but we've spent the last five and a half years eating breakfast together, it's not really surprising we've picked up on little things like this. Even if we don't consciously look for them, subconsciously we pick up things.'

'You think?'

'I'll prove it to you!'

'How?'

'Well, I'm guessing Harry's overslept, he should be here by now, so why don't we make things a little easier on him and make his breakfast for him? That we I'll prove my point and he won't have to skip breakfast to get to our lesson on time.'

'Er, okay.'

'You make him what you think he'll want to eat and I'll make him his drink. I bet we're both right!'

'Really? How much?'

'Nothing!'

'That confident eh?' he asked with a smirk.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Actually, Ronald, I am, but I know if I bet against you, you'll not try properly, so it wouldn't be fair. Now hurry, up, Harry'll be here soon. In theory that is!

Ron set about making what he thought Harry would want for breakfast. He thought about it; he wouldn't want anything hot, because it would take too long to eat, but then again, the dungeons were cold so he wouldn't want anything cold. Then there was the fact that Harry was always grumpy when he slept in, so some comfort food may be in order. Ron smiled as he reached for the bowl in front of him

Hermione looked at the selection of drinks in front of her and surveyed each one.

'No, no…no' she muttered to herself as she went along the line of drinks. The two on the end caught her eye and she smiled. After a brief thought she knew exactly which one to choose.

Harry fell out of the portrait hole and knocked a first year Gryffindor flying. After he hurriedly put him back on his feet and uttered a hasty apology he sprinted down to the great hall, careful to slow down when he glimpsed a teacher or heard something that could have been Mrs. Norris creeping up on him.

He landed hard on the bench next to Ron.

'Afternoon!' Ron said with a smirk.

'Oh shut up! You living in your own private room is so bloody inconvenient, I never get up on time anymore.'

'Yes, because that's the _real_ inconvenience!' Hermione retorted.

'Oh, right, sorry,' he mumbled.

'S'okay mate. Now eat your breakfast!'

Ron gestured to the food that was sat in front of them.

'My breakfast?'

'Yes your breakfast.'

'So, not only are you making each other's breakfasts, now you're feeling the urge to make mine too?'

Ron pushed Harry's head backwards so much so that he almost lost his balance. As he regained his composure Ron pushed Harry's food in front of him.

'There's a reason why we made it. Hermione's trying to prove a point.'

He rolled his eyes so only Harry could see.

'There's no need to roll your eyes, Ron!' Hermione said indignantly.

'How-?' He turned round to look at Hermione and she raised her eyebrows at him. 'Never mind!'

'What point's she trying to prove? Harry asked, still not having started to eat his breakfast.

'_She_ has a name Harry!' Hermione replied, slightly annoyed, but she continued regardless. 'Well, Ron thinks that the only reason we know what the other wants for breakfast is because of our connection, whereas I think it has more to do with the fact that we've eaten together for five and a half years. So I said we should make yours and whether you want what we've made you should determine which of us is right.'

'Oh no don't say that your moods for the rest of the day are determined by what comes out of my mouth right now! You know I hate it when you ask me to choose which one of you is right. I can't win either way!'

'Calm down Harry,' Hermione said with a smirk. 'It's not as if this is a major thing, I'm sure whichever of us is wrong will recover. And hurry up you've only got five minutes.'

Harry picked up the spoon that was next to the bowl and eagerly tucked into his porridge.

A small 'mmm' escaped his lips.

'It's hot, but not too hot that you can't eat it quickly. It's cold in the dungeons, I thought you'd like something to keep you warm,' Ron said with a small smile.

'Mmm,' Harry replied through a mouthful of porridge. 'Cheers mate!' He beamed before shovelling more porridge into his mouth.

'So…did I get it right?' Ron asked. Hermione thought he sounded a bit nervous, but she had no idea why.

'Yeah you did, if I'd thought about breakfast properly then I'd have chosen this. Did I get a drink too?'

'Yep, Hermione did that.'

Ron picked up the goblet and handed it to Harry.

'Ah! Hot Chocolate there's nothing like it in a morning!'

He grinned and drank a mouthful. Like Ron, Hermione had made it hot enough so it was sill 'hot' but not overly so, so he could drink it in time.

'So Hermione got it right to?'

'Was there any doubt?' Harry replied with a smirk before finishing off his porridge.

'No, I suppose not.'

'Well really, it was an obvious choice,' Hermione said in a superior tone. 'It's like Ron said; it's freezing in the dungeons so you'd want something to warm you up, plus I knew you'd be in a foul mood for being late so chocolate was the obvious choice, it'd make you feel better and relieve Ron and me of your temper!'

'Yeah, thanks Hermione,' Harry said through his last mouthful of breakfast. 'Kind of wish I hadn't proved your point now!'

'Yeah, I suppose that does make you right,' Ron said with half a smile.

'Well, for what it's worth, I think you're both right,' Harry said before downing the remains of his hot chocolate and standing up off the bench. Hermione and Ron followed and the three of them started walking out of the hall to the dungeons.

'How?' Ron asked.

'Well, it's true the three of us know each other very well by now and if we thought about what the others would want for breakfast then nine times out of ten we'd get it right no problem. Careful!'

A small Slytherin had rounded a corner and nearly gone head first into Harry.

'_No running the corridors short ar_-'

'RON! You can't say that!' Hermione screeched, scandalised.

'Well he is!'

'As I was saying…' Harry glared at Ron and Hermione, both of whom were glaring at each other. 'We'd be able to do what you two did this morning most of the time. Which is great, but I think with you two it's a bit different.'

'Why?' Ron asked again.

'You know, you can ask me questions that are more than one word long mate!'

Ron shoved Harry in to the wall, but his momentum bounced him back quite well so was able to carry on walking as if nothing had happened.

'Oww!'

Ron ignored Harry's cries of pain.

'Well, as I was saying, there's something different about the way you do it. You don't have to think about it at all, you _don't_ think about it at all from what I've seen, you just do it! And it's always right. There's definitely something deeper about this connection thing that you have than not being able to leave the room without each other.'

Ron turned the slightest shade of pink and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

'Yes, I think you're right Harry,' Hermione replied. 'Which makes us _both_ right for once!'

Harry laughed.

They had reached the entrance to the dungeon. Before they went in Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.

'Thanks for this morning though, I appreciate it, although I'd appreciate it more if you could somehow wake me up on time.'

Hermione smiled. Ron started to feel a bit strange, and he didn't know why.

'I do miss you two, you know!' Harry said with a grin. 'I know you're not spending a lot of the time in your room but when you do, it's not the same. I've got no one to watch arguing for entertainment!'

Ron didn't know what was wrong with him, he was starting to well up and he had no idea why. He looked over at Hermione but she was rummaging in her bag.

_What is wrong with you Weasley?_ He thought desperately. He looked up at the ceiling, willing himself to pull it together. He had no idea why he was feeling like this, there was no explanation. He'd just woken up feeling strange.

Luckily for him Slughorn opened the door and he managed to get into the classroom without Harry noticing he was teary eyed. He hastily wiped his eyes and sat down with a heavier than normal 'thump' on his seat. To his slight surprise Hermione sat down next to him. It had been a while since she had done that willingly, but this time she had. Harry sat opposite Ron and when Ernie arrived in the classroom, he sat opposite Hermione.

To Ron's dismay today's lesson was theoretical and not practical. It was all of five minutes before he noticed his concentration starting to wander. As much as he tried he couldn't concentrate properly on the facts and figures Slughorn was continuously throwing at the class, not that this was anything unusual; Ron was hardly the best at taking notes, but even he thought it was worse today. Something was wrong with him, but he had no idea what.

His stomach had started squirming twenty minutes into the lesson and it wasn't until it was almost over that he noticed the squirming had turned to pain. He sighed in relief when Slughorn told them they could leave the lesson, and the pain in his stomach lessened when he got up.

The three of them made their way to the common room and as one, slumped into their favourite chairs.

'Won-Won!'

'Oh Merlin!' Ron mumbled, but loud enough for Hermione and Harry to hear.

They both smirked at each other, but buried their heads in books so they didn't have to see the public display of affection that was imminent.

'Hi Lavender!' Ron said in a non-committal tone.

'How are you my darling?' Lavender asked in a very dramatic way.

She twirled around and swept her arms wide before sitting down on Ron's lap. Well, that's what she intended to do.

Ron hadn't actually looked at Lavender since she had greeted him and as she went to sit on his lap he crossed his right leg over his left and she ended up as a heap on the floor.

Ron, Harry and Hermione all stared at Lavender; it was a few seconds before they moved. Harry and Hermione instantly hid themselves behind their books as they fell into their silent but quite vicious giggles. Looking at each other only made the situation worse, so they tried desperately to calm themselves down.

Ron, however didn't have the luxury of having a book to hide behind and one glance at the retreating faces of Harry and Hermione made his laughter move to the back of his throat and threaten to burst out of his mouth in a very undignified fashion.

He swallowed hard and bent forward to help Lavender up.

She hadn't screeched or screamed as she'd fallen, too shocked to realise what had happened for a few seconds. But when she realised what had happened she whipped her head around to face Ron and glared at him.

Unfortunately for the red head Harry gave a very untimely snort and Ron burst out laughing, much to Lavender's dismay. She struggled to her feet and stormed off without another word to Ron. She left the common room and it was only when the portrait had slammed shut that Ron, Harry and Hermione allowed themselves to dissolve into sidesplitting laughter. Ron tried to take the high road and not laugh, but his self-restraint lasted all of five seconds and he joined his friends in their uncontrollable laughter.

After they had all settled down Ron tried to get comfortable in his chair, but he couldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes. After his continued shuffling didn't stop Hermione sighed and put her book down.

'Ron what's wrong? Why can't you sit still?'

'I just can't get comfortable! Any position I sit in feels weird after a bit, and I've got stomach ache too!'

Hermione's eyes widened but she didn't say anything. She just buried herself back in her book.

'Well you can't have eaten too much, you've only eaten breakfast!' Harry replied with a grin.

'Thanks Harry, I know exactly what I've eaten! I thought I might be hungry but the thought of eating anything makes me feel worse.'

Harry's grin slipped. 'You don't feel like eating?' he asked in a slightly more concerned tone. 'Okay, now I'm worried.'

'Ha bloody ha!' Ron retorted, obviously irritated.

'No, seriously Ron, even when you're throwing your guts up, it's not long after that you're eating again because you're hungry!'

Ron shrugged. 'I dunno, I've just felt weird all day, I woke up feeling strange!'

Hermione coughed and Harry and Ron turned to look at her, but she didn't lower her book so they turned back to each other, Harry's look of concern returning to his face.

'Why don't you go and see Madam Pomfrey if you're not feeling well?' Harry suggested.

Hermione made a small noise that was neither a word nor a squeak, but still she remained behind her book, so Ron and Harry's questioning stares once again, went unanswered.

'Nah, I'll see if it gets any worse, I'm okay at the minute.'

…oooOOOooo…

The next hour was spent in the common room doing homework, but Ron was finding it more and more difficult to concentrate on anything but the growing pain in his stomach. Five minutes before lunch, he made a small whimpering pain but tried to cover it up.

'Er…Ron?' Harry asked, having noticed the small sound escaping Ron's lips.

'What?' Ron snapped.

'Are you okay? You sound like you're suffering.'

'My stomach ache's got worse.'

Hermione looked up at Ron and decided to take action.

'Come on Ron, we're going to see Madam Pomfrey.'

'But I-'

'NOW!' she shouted as she walked to the portrait hole.

Ron's eyes widened and he hurriedly got up out of his seat, trying not to whimper as he did so.

'Hermione wait!' he called as he ran after her down the corridor. 'Why did you demand we leave?'

'Because I can't be bothered with your pathetic whining that's why!' she snapped.

'I wasn't whining!' Ron retorted.

'Yes you were.'

'No I wasn't!'

'_Yes you were_!'

'No I was-'

'RON SHUT UP!'

He was too shocked to say anything in return so just followed Hermione in silence.

They arrived at the hospital wing and walked through the room towards Madam Pomfrey's office. Ron saw the silhouette of the nurse moving around inside the small room as Hermione knocked on the door.

'Oh Miss Granger! What can I do for you? Are you feeling unwell?'

'Er, not unwell exactly, it's…you know…'

'Ah of course, I should have known. Pain relief I take it?' she asked, as she walked back into her office and opened one of the many cupboards in there.

'Yes thank you, a bit stronger than usual if possible. It's quite bad.'

'Of course.'

'Pain relief?' Ron asked Hermione quietly. 'Finally!'

Hermione turned and smiled sweetly at Ron. For some reason Ron was slightly unsettled by the smile, there was something slightly sinister about it.

She turned back towards the office as Madam Pomfrey came out holding a small bottle of potion.

'Here you are miss Granger, it should work in a few minutes, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few hours before you can have some more, it's quite strong!'

'Thank you Madam Pomfrey.'

Ron stepped towards Hermione and held out his hand, waiting for her to put the small bottle in it. Instead she uncorked it and drank the contents in one go, leaving Ron open mouthed and confused.

'But-' he started, trying to understand what had just happened.

Hermione handed the bottle back to Madam Pomfrey. The nurse turned and went back into her office cleaning the bottle with a wave of her wand. Hermione turned to face Ron, an innocent expression on her face.

'Sorry?' she asked.

'I thought that was for me!' Ron asked, his voice getting louder with every word.

'What would give you that impression?' Hermione asked, innocently.

'Well…I…I'm the one with stomach ache!'

'Yes you are, aren't you. What you've failed to notice Ron, is that I've been suffering with the same…well not quite the same…but I've been suffering this morning too, not that you noticed!'

'What? Why didn't you say anything?'

'Because I'm used to it by now.'

'You're used to it by now? What the hell does that mean?'

'Honestly Ron, you have absolutely no idea! Now, do you want something for your stomach ache or not?'

'_Yes!_ But I don't know what it is yet.'

'Don't worry about that, I do!' Hermione replied before turning back towards the office.

'You do?' Ron replied quietly.

He watched as Hermione spoke to Madam Pomfrey quietly. He was slightly concerned when the nurse's eyes widened and she looked quickly at Ron before continuing to look at Hermione. By the end of their conversation – and after a wry smile had slid across Madam Pomfrey's face – Hermione had acquired another bottle of potion for Ron and they left the hospital wing.

'Hermione where are we going? It's lunch time!'

'I thought you weren't hungry!' she replied over her shoulder.

'Well I'm not, but I might be if you'd let me have my potion!'

'I need to talk to you first, there's something you need to know.'

She tried her best to suppress the smile that was creeping on to her face.

'What? And why are you smiling, what's so bloody funny?'

'Language Ron, and I'll tell you in our room. I need to get my things for this afternoon, so do you for that matter.'

Ron huffed. 'Fine!'

They made their way through the school, through their portrait and up the seven flights of stairs to their room. Hermione let the two of them in the room and shut the door behind them.

'So what's wrong with me?' Ron asked, looking a little concerned.

'Don't worry Ron, there's nothing sinister wrong with you.'

'Well, what is it then?'

'You've er…you're experiencing pain because I am. It's another side effect from that potion I'm afraid, apparently you're feeling my pain.'

'What? So there's nothing wrong with me then?'

'No Ron, nothing.'

'Oh okay, well that's annoying…but then what's wrong with you?'

Hermione mumbled her response.

'Pardon,' Ron asked whilst moving a step closer to Hermione.

'I've er…' she went a slightly darker shade of pink. 'I've got…period pain.'

Ron's eyes widened and he started looking around the room, anywhere but Hermione.

'Oh…OH! But that doesn't mean…_I've_ not…how come…?'

Hermione tutted. 'Succinct as ever Ronald!'

'Please don't tell me that I'm…you know…I can't…'

'Oh calm down Ron, obviously you can't have proper period pain so you've got the nearest thing, stomach ache! Oh, do you want this?'

'Finally!' Ron said before taking the bottle off her and downing the contents.

He threw the bottle onto his bed and then he remembered how he'd felt all this morning.

'But I've been-' he started, then decided not to finish his sentence.

'You've been what?

'I've been feeling…strange this morning. One minute laughing hysterically and then about to burst into tears the next!'

He blushed instantly and Hermione giggled.

'You've er…you've been having mood swings?'

'YES!'

Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

'I knew you'd laugh!'

Hermione did her best to stop laughing and she managed it temporarily.

'Calm down Ron, you're only reacting that way because it's how _I've_ been feeling! It's just like we've experienced before, any extreme feelings of emotion we've had, the other's felt. Well, it's the same thing! Only with the mood swings you've got pain too!'

'And you put up with this every month? Bloody hell!'

'Finally a bloke understands! Although it has to be said you've had it easy!'

'What do you mean I've had it easy. I've never felt stomach ache like this!'

Hermione's brow furrowed and she looked determinedly at him.

'Ron when did you first notice you had stomach ache?' she asked him.

'Er, during potions, towards the end of the lesson.'

'Ah yes I remember, it was about that time I was in quite a lot of pain and started to feel really quite sick from it. I've been in pain since I woke up this morning! You've got off lightly!'

'Lightly! _Lightly!_'

'Careful Ron, be _very_ careful!'

Ron realised there and then that it would be no use arguing with Hermione. He realised that he had probably had a diluted version of Hermione's pain. Saying anything different might result in him being hexed.

'You feel like eating anything now you're potion's had time to take effect?'

Hermione smiled, Ron had made the right decision.

'Yeah actually, you?'

'Yeah, getting there.'

'Good, I have a feeling Harry might have carted you off to St. Mungo's if you'd not felt like eating your dinner.'

Ron smiled. 'Yeah I think he might have!'

They left their room after collecting their books for the afternoon's lessons and watched their door turn back into the wall.

They were about to turn into the Great Hall when Ron caught Hermione by the hand, quickly letting go after she'd stopped and turned around.

'What is it?' Hermione asked.

'Would you er…could you not tell anyone about this…what I'm feeling? It's not exactly…good for my image…'

'You're image?' Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

'You know what I mean! Having mood swings isn't exactly manly is it? I'd never live it down!'

'Trust you to think about your _image_!'

'Wow, talk about mood swings!'

Hermione glared at him.

'Oh, wrong thing to say Ron, wrong thing to say!'

She turned on her heel and stalked into the Great Hall where Harry was sat waiting for the both of them. Ron hurried in after her.

'How's the stomach Ron? Better?'

'Oh he's feeling much better, aren't you Ron?'

Ron looked at Hermione warily.

'Yes,' she continued, 'his _manly_ pain is all better!'


	16. Chapter 16

**So, things start to get a bit more intence now! (grins evily) **

* * *

Chapter 16

There was a pounding in her head, she tried to ignore it but she couldn't. She brought her hand to her forehead and rubbed, it didn't do anything, but it was a natural reaction and was worth a try.

She rolled over and pulled the duvet off herself. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. She went to stand but as her feet hit the floor her head gave a painful throb. Her knees buckled and she slid to the soft carpet, back resting against the side of her bed.

She stretched her foot out and felt it touch something, another person's foot. She reached out and followed the line of the limb with her hand until she reached a knee. She felt the same happening on her knee; a comfortable weight was resting on it. She took her hand off the knee and grasped around in the air for the hand. By instinct she knew where it was and grasped it, at the same time the other hand did the same.

A throb of pain went through her head and she grasped the hand tighter. They pulled towards the other and their foreheads touched. Instantly the pain receded and her other hand found the back of the person's neck holding their heads together, frightened that the pain would return if they lost contact.

She felt their breath on her face. Their breathing pace matched. After a minute of just sitting, foreheads touching all the while, their breathing slowed as the pain died. But neither of them wanted to move. They were comfortable.

They felt the need to sleep wash over them. The hands that were holding the other's heads made their way down their arms and met in front of them, grasping firmly but gently. They carefully laid down, still opposite each other and still holding hands and made themselves comfortable on the carpeted floor.

A minute later they were asleep.

…oooOOOooo…

Hermione woke up but didn't open her eyes. There was a dull ache in her head, but nothing she couldn't ignore. She didn't want to move, she liked being in bed.

She shifted position and frowned when she didn't feel the softness of the mattress she was used to. In fact, she felt a bit uncomfortable.

She flexed her fingers and then realised she was holding something.

Startled she opened her eyes. What she saw made her heart skip a beat. Two bright blue eyes were staring back at her, and they looked as shocked and confused as she felt.

She sat up in an instant but regretted the sharp movement when her head throbbed and she cricked her neck, not surprising really, considering she had slept on the floor.

'Aah!' Ron said as he too sat up.

Hermione's head gave another throb and then a pain shot through her scull and down her neck. She involuntarily grabbed Ron's shoulder and squeezed it as the pain ran through her.

'Her…Hermione…what's…what's going on? My head…really hurts.'

'Mine…mine too,' she replied through gritted teeth.

'Why won't it st…stop?' Ron asked.

'I don't know…I don't know how to make it better…either!'

'Wait…' Ron said, trying to concentrate through the pain. 'I remember…turn around!'

'What?'

Her natural reactions turned her head to look at him but that only made the pain in her head worse.

'Ah!' she whimpered.

Her grip on Ron's shoulder intensified.

'Hermione, come on, turn round to face me. This'll work, I know it will!'

Trying her best to ignore the stabbing pain in her head she shuffled round so she was facing Ron.

Through her watery eyes she looked into his. His hand found the back of her head and he pulled it towards his own.

Hermione resisted his movement, unsure as to what he was doing. Her eyes widened.

'Ron…what are you doing?'

'Just trust me…please Hermione. I know this will work.'

She thought for a second and nodded her head an inch.

Ron slowly pulled her forehead to his and when their skin touched Hermione felt instant relief.

She sighed as the pain left her.

Ron's hand slid down to the back of her neck and rested it there.

'Did it work for you as well?' he asked quietly.

'Yes. Thank you.'

'No problem.'

Hermione looked into his eyes for a second before dropping them to the T-shirt Ron was wearing. It was oat coloured and the bottom hem was fraying. She had seen him in it at the Burrow and Grimmauld Place when he had staggered downstairs for some breakfast. Not awake enough to get dressed but awake enough to know he was hungry and get himself what he wanted.

She chanced another quick glance at his eyes, but when she found he was staring back at her, her glance dropped once again and she felt herself blush.

Her nose was only a centimetre from his and it would only take a small movement from either of them for them to share a kiss. At the thought Hermione tensed and she realised she was still holding Ron's shoulder. She didn't want to let go though, she felt safe.

Ron was resolutely staring at the piece of cotton that was trailing from his T-shirt and with his spare hand he started twirling it round his finger. Realising where his other hand was still sat he tensed but didn't move it. He knew if he did Hermione would pull back, and something was telling him – gut instinct probably – that losing this physical contact would cause them both pain, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Hermione.

He was ignoring how close their noses and mouths were, he knew Hermione wouldn't be thinking these thoughts. This wasn't the time to start thinking about the two freckles that resided on Hermione's face, one on the right side of her nose, the other on the left side of her top lip, this was the time to be mature and try and rectify the situation they had found themselves in, and try and work out how to get downstairs for some help.

He cleared his throat and he felt Hermione tense under his hand.

'Er…so I guess, what I thought was a dream last night, wasn't actually one. When I thought I was dreaming, climbing out of bed and collapsing on the floor in pain, and finding comfort in er…you…I was actually doing it.'

Hermione went to nod her head but stopped herself when she had pushed both their heads down a fraction. Ron smiled at the gesture.

'Apparently I was too!' she replied. 'It was strange, I didn't think I was awake but the fact that I actually thought that must show I was on some level.'

'Yeah,' Ron agreed. 'I suppose so.'

Hermione's brow furrowed as she concentrated. Ron smiled when he felt the skin next to his forehead move. He knew she was thinking and trying to work out what was happening.

'So…er…what do you think's going on then?' he asked.

'I can only think that this is a side-effect of the potion, but I'm worried as to how much pain we were in, and the fact that we can only seem to stop it by doing this.'

'Yeah, it is a bit…worrying.'

'Of course it could mean that this is coming to an end, like it's side effects of the connection breaking, that's why we're in pain. I don't know though.'

'Trouble is, I don't think anyone else'll know either. We do seem to be a bit of a unique case,' he said with a smile.

He raised his head a fraction and the end of their noses touched.

Their eyes met for a second before both of them tilted their heads down and looked at the floor.

'Yes…yes we do.'

'Do you want to risk trying to get up? As much as I don't really want to see the hospital wing, I think we should tell someone about this, and at the very least we'll need something to control the pain if it doesn't stop. I don't know about you but I'm not a fan of throbbing temples and shooting pains through my skull!'

Hermione smiled. 'No, me neither.'

'Right, well, can I make a suggestion?'

'Please do.'

'Well if we pull apart and it doesn't hurt then we just pull our cloaks on and go to the hospital wing. It's still dark so it's pretty early, not many people should be wandering the corridors so hopefully no one will question us. I don't think we should dawdle if we are pain free, who knows if and when it'll come back.'

'Good idea.'

'So, stand, cloaks, hospital wing.'

'Stand, cloaks, hospital wing,' Hermione repeated with a smile. 'Sounds good to me.'

'Right then…ready?'

'Er…yes, but- in case we both pass out as soon as we stand up, I just want to say…thanks.'

'What for?'

'For keeping your head earlier and realising what would make the pain go away.'

She lifted her eyes and they locked on his. He lifted his head and it slid across hers so their noses where side by side. They stayed there for a few seconds before Hermione shifted back to where they had been previously, although it was the last thing she wanted to do.

'Er…'sokay. So er…ready?'

'Yes.'

They both took a deep breath and pulled their heads apart a fraction, both bracing themselves for the pain to return. But it didn't and they slowly moved apart from each other. Ron stood up and Hermione followed, swaying slightly before regaining her balance. Ron held his hands out in front and behind her, ready for if she fell. She smiled, letting him know she was fine.

They both walked the length of the room to the two cloak pegs next to their door and pulled on their cloaks. Hermione was very aware that she was in her shorts and strappy top and would be walking through Hogwarts in her nightwear, but Ron was right; they needed to get to the hospital wing quickly before their mystery pain struck them down again.

Ron opened the door and lit his wand as he and Hermione made their way down the flights of stairs to the portrait at the bottom.

Three minutes into their journey and Hermione felt the familiar throbbing in her temples start up again. Ron felt it too and the two of the quickened their pace.

By the time they reached the doors to the hospital wing they were jogging, the pain in their heads was building and they needed to get to Madam Pomfrey as soon as possible.

As they rounded the last corner they started sprinting towards the doors. Their heads throbbed with every step they took but they knew they were getting closer and closer to their goal.

Ron shouldered the doors open and fell to his knees as he entered the large room. Hermione did the same as white hot pain ran through her head and down her neck. She had shut her eyes but instinctively knew where Ron was.

'What on earth's going on?' Madam Pomfrey shrieked as she stalked out of her office.

Hermione reached out for Ron's hand and found it. Like they had in their bedroom they pulled themselves closer to each other and touched their foreheads together.

Their right hands stayed grasped in front of them and their left found the other's shoulder, squeezing tightly as the pain started to fade away.

'Miss Granger? Mister Weasley? What's going on? Are you in pain? Are you ill?'

'We…we don't know! I mean…we're…we're in pain when we're not…like this,' Ron stammered.

He concentrated hard on his breathing and trying to calm himself down.

You mean to tell me that you're in pain when your…when your foreheads are not in contact like they are now?'

'That's right Madam Pomfrey,' Hermione replied, finally finding her voice.

'But…but I don't understand!' Madam Pomfrey whispered.

'I think it's best if we tell you what's happened, then you might have a better idea of how to treat it, if you can at all that is,' Hermione said quietly.

'Fine, but do you want to stand up or…sit on a chair?'

Hermione looked directly at Ron and Ron shrugged.

'I'm okay,' he said to Hermione.

'Me too,' she replied.

'We're fine here Madam Pomfrey,' Ron said to the nurse.

'Well if you don't mind I'll sit on a chair, I have a feeling it is the safest thing to do.

She conjured a chair with her wand and settled herself down into it.

'Right, tell me everything!'

Hermione went to open her mouth to start the explanation when the door to the hospital wing burst open.

Instinctively both Ron and Hermione pulled apart from each other and stared at the open door. The bright light behind the person silhouetted them and neither Hermione nor Ron could see who it was.

'Ron! What are you doing here?' a hysterical Lavender Brown asked her boyfriend.

Ron and Hermione both stood up as they recognised the person as Lavender.

Hermione was hesitant to say anything; more worried about the pain that she had a feeling was about to come back to her in full force.

'How did you know I was here?' Ron said loudly to the witch, who was looking meticulously groomed for so early an hour.

'Parvati had just left here when she saw you two run into the place! Are you hurt? Is there anything I can do for my Won-Won?'

'Miss Brown _please!_ This is a hospital wing and these two are my patients. We were having a private consultation and you have just interrupted it. I must insist you leave immediately!'

Hermione inwardly sighed in relief and knew Ron was glad the nurse had demanded Lavender leave.

Ron looked at Lavender and noticed she was turning red, either out of embarrassment or anger. He suspected it was anger.

'But I just want to know if he's alright!'

'He won't be in a minute if you don't leave!' Hermione muttered to herself.

Lavender took a pace closer to Ron and Hermione.

'What did you just say?' she demanded of Hermione.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but gasped when for the fourth time that morning, her temples started throbbing. Instead of it being a slow build up like it had the previous time, the pain was vicious from the start. She grimaced and shut her eyes.

Ron managed to keep his eyes open but desperately wanted to get to Hermione. He was torn between taking the pain away and keeping the peace with Lavender. He was about to ask Lavender to leave when his head throbbed again. He brought his hands to his head and it was all he could do to not collapse on the floor like he had last time.

'Ron what is it?' Lavender asked.

She strode over to him and stood directly in front of him.

'What can I do?' she asked, panicking.

'Nothing,' Ron mumbled.

She reached out and placed her hands over his but he shook her off and pushed her aside.

Both he and Hermione took the two paces that were separating them and grabbed each other's hand. In a few seconds their foreheads were touching, but this time it was different. The pain wasn't receding. It was getting worse.

'Ron what are you doing?' Lavender asked, outraged.

Ron barely registered his irate girlfriend stood next to him and Hermione.

'Why isn't it…working?' He asked Hermione.

'I don't know. It hurts Ron! Why won't it stop?'

Tears fell from her eyes as the pain became unbearable.

'Help us!' Ron croaked out.

Hermione was willing for something, anything to stop the pain in her head, but she couldn't think of anything. That was when her mind became fuzzy. In one last attempt to find comfort in each other, both Ron and Hermione opened their eyes and looked directly into the other's.

As they looked at each other both noticed black spots filling their peripheral vision. They both went dizzy and both of them could only hear ringing in their ears. They fell to the floor heavily, barely conscious, but it only lasted a few seconds.

'Ron!' Lavender shrieked.

'Oh my goodness!' Madam Pomfrey said before kneeling beside Hermione.

She watched as their eyes rolled to the back of their heads and they blacked out. She turned to Lavender, a worried look on her face.

'Go and get the headmaster Miss Brown!'

Lavender didn't acknowledge her; she just knelt next to Ron and stared at him.

'Miss Brown! Listen to me! You need to get the headmaster. Go to his study and tell him to come here immediately. The password is _Acid Pops!_ Miss Brown, _please!_'

Lavender seemed to come out of her trance and slowly got to her feet.

'Yeah, the headmaster…right.' She turned and headed out of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey turned to look at her two patients. Her gut instinct was to revive them, but she had a feeling their pain would only come back to them if she did.

Instead she levitated the two of them to beds next to each other and waited for Dumbledore.

She hoped he would have some sort of answer or idea, because she had none. Not one.

* * *

**(continues to grin evily) Hope you enjoyed it! If you could let me know what you think, as you have been doing in lovely amounts, it would be much appreciated.**

**Cheers, Step ;)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Well, a Happy New Year to you all, hope 2007 brings you all you want it to! Including 'Deathly Hallows':D  
So, a few of you may have been waiting for this chapter, and it's finally here. Hope it doesn't disappoint.  
Anyway, I was well chuffed with the reviews the last chapter got, so if you would be so kind as to do it again, it would be much appreciated.  
Many thanks to Leviathan for the suggestions and the Betaing. :D**

**Ta muchly. Step ;)  
**

* * *

Chapter 17

'Headmaster I just don't know what to do with them! I've never seen anything like this before!'

'Calm yourself, Poppy. Getting worked up will not help us solve this little mystery,' Dumbledore replied with a soft smile on his face.

'Neither will standing here watching them Albus!'

She hesitated in her protests when Dumbledore held up his healthy hand and gestured towards the two beds in front of them.

Hermione and Ron were lying on their sides facing each other. Hermione's right arm and Ron's left were hanging over the edge of the bed. It was the first time Madam Pomfrey noticed they were lying in almost identical positions.

She looked at Dumbledore, confused. Dumbledore merely nodded at the two students.

As the two of them looked on they saw both their brows furrow and their arms twitch.

'Do you think they are still in pain, Headmaster?' Madam Pomfrey asked, a little frantically.

'I think that is certainly a possibility, Poppy. If you would be so kind as to perform a revealing spell on the both of them.'

'Oh, of course.'

The nurse stepped forward and waved her wand over Hermione's head. The mist that hovered over the young witch disappeared over her face but turned an angry red over her temple and her forehead. It pulsed in time with her heartbeat.

She frowned and turned to Ron, performing the same spell and seeing the same result unfold before her eyes.

She stepped back to the headmaster and noticed the faintest of smiles on his face.

'Well, it's obvious they are both suffering, I-'

'I think they are about to show us how they can help each other out Poppy. You will notice, Hermione's pain has lessened slightly and is now, not as much as Ronald's.'

'Well, yes, but I don't see how-'

'Just watch them, Poppy. I have a feeling we are about to see something most fascinating!'

The nurse turned to the two students. She watched as their dangling arms twitched and slowly started to rise and stretch towards the other's. When they didn't manage contact the both of them shuffled forwards, but instinctively knew when to stop so they didn't fall off the edge of the bed.

'I think a little assistance is in order,' Dumbledore said quietly.

He waved his wand and the two beds moved closer together.

Ron and Hermione's fingertips brushed and then they grasped hands. Their brows furrowed further as if they were both concentrating hard on something. What happened next made Madam Pomfrey gasp.

Some of the red mist which was hovering around Ron's head started to move down his neck, across to his shoulder and down his arm. It flowed along his fingers and onto Hermione's. At the same time that Ron relaxed slightly, Hermione tensed as the pain moved up through her arm, up her neck and into her head.

Her brow furrowed a little more for a few seconds before she seemed to get used to the pain and relaxed slightly.

The nurse and the headmaster stood and stared for the next few minutes, which saw the pain in Ron's head reduce, and Hermione's pain flow through to Ron who accepted it willingly.

'Are they-?' Madam Pomfrey started uncertainly. 'Are they helping each other fight this pain?'

'I don't think they are helping each other fight the pain directly, Poppy. As their own bodies combat whatever it is that is causing them this discomfort, their pain is lessening, and because they are connected on a level that we do not understand as of yet, they know how the other is feeling. In an act of complete selflessness, they are balancing out the pain so that neither of them is suffering more than the other, and they will, therefore, become healthy at the same time. We must remember, my dear Poppy, that whilst one is unwell, it restricts the other's freedom significantly.'

'So not entirely selfless then,' Madam Pomfrey said.

Dumbledore smirked. 'Quite.'

'This still does not help us understand how we can help them headmaster. They were in severe pain earlier and the only way they could stop it was to touch their foreheads together. I have never seen anything like this in all my years here, and you and I both know I have seen some very strange things!'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'Indeed you have Poppy, and yet this is possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in your hospital wing.'

The nurse frowned. 'Be that as it may, headmaster, I still do not know how to help them.'

'Until they wake up, Poppy I suggest we do nothing, but when they do wake I suggest we test to see if their connection has weakened in any way, only then can we assess their situation.'

'I suppose that seems reasonable.'

'Until then Poppy, I bid you farewell. I suggest you get some breakfast, we don't need our nurse becoming unwell too.'

'I will, headmaster.'

Madam Pomfrey looked towards the door as Dumbledore glided serenely towards it.

'Oh headmaster, will you please tell Miss Brown to come back later. I don't want her fussing around my patients.'

'Of course Poppy, of course.'

…oooOOOooo…

Hermione and Ron opened their eyes at the same second and looked at each other.

'Hiya,' Ron said with a smile.

'Hi,' Hermione replied, returning his smile.

'How are you feeling?' he asked.

'Fine, I think. You?'

'Yeah, fine. Er, you know…you know this morning, when we thought we were dreaming but we weren't?' Ron said.

He quickly glanced at his hand, which was still tightly grasping Hermione's.

'Yeah, I do.'

'Well…' Ron began, before pausing for a second to think. 'Did we…did we do it again?'

'I think we did,' Hermione answered, still smiling. 'We helped each other, didn't we? We shared our pain.'

'Yeah…we did.'

'It's quite amazing really,' she said quietly.

'Yeah I suppose it is.'

'Ron…I think we should let go now,' Hermione said, nodding towards their hands.

'But I don't want to!' Ron blurted out before he could stop himself. He reddened, as did Hermione. 'I mean-' he started, trying to lessen his embarrassment, 'I don't want us to get ill again. It's only been physical contact,' the redness increased, 'that's stopped it before.'

'Yeah, it has,' Hermione replied. She looked directly into his eyes. 'I don't want to either,' she said sincerely, 'but we have to know if this has stopped. We can't go round holding hands forever!'

Ron smiled. 'I know.'

They loosened their grip on each other's hands and pulled away from each other. When their fingertips met they both hesitated for a second, then pulled back completely.

After a few seconds their breathing returned to normal, they had both been holding their breath, waiting to be struck down by pain.

'I think we're okay,' Ron said with a smile.

'I think we are.'

'Well, apart from my arm, it seems to have stopped working!'

Hermione chuckled; her arm had gone dead too, now that Ron's was no longer supporting it.

Her face became serious.

'What? What's wrong?' Ron asked quickly.

'Nothing I'm fine, it's just…' she looked over her shoulder to the door of the hospital wing, 'well…Lavender saw us…well, you know, that won't have gone down well.'

Ron's face fell and he stared resolutely at the blanket on his bed.

'Er…yeah…I mean, no…it won't have will it.'

'Well I was going to say, if you wanted to, you know-'

'Ah! You're awake! I'll let the headmaster know!' Madam Pomfrey said before bustling out of the hospital wing doors.

'What were you going to say?' Ron prompted.

'What? Oh, well, I was just going to suggest, if you wanted to talk to her…in private, you know, you could cast _Muffliato_ then I wouldn't hear anything you didn't want me to.'

Ron was taken aback.

'But you don't like any of the spells out of the Prince's book! And…well, I dunno if I'd feel right…hexing you! In fact, I know I couldn't hex you!'

Hermione smiled. 'It's not as if you're hexing me out of anger or cruelty, is it? I have asked you to do it; I want you to do it so you can finally have some privacy with her. It can't have been easy, these past couple of weeks. In fact you've hardly seen her at all.'

'There's a reason,' Ron mumbled.

Hermione didn't reply. She just rolled over so she was lying on her back. Ron didn't move.

'I think…' he started, but lost his nerve.

He shuffled and copied Hermione, lying down on his back and staring at the ceiling.

'What do you think?' Hermione asked quietly.

'Nothing. Nothing I think is worth anything anyway.'

Hermione sat up quickly and glared at Ron.

'Don't you _ever_ say things like that Ron. I hate it when you underestimate yourself and put yourself down!'

Her outburst had taken Ron by surprise. He looked at her, unsure whether or not to say anything in reply.

'Sorry,' he mumbled.

Hermione took a deep breath and laid back down on the bed.

'So, what do you think?' she asked again.

'I…I think I'm gonna tell her…that I…that I don't want to-'

He stopped when the hospital wing doors burst open and Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore walked in.

He visibly deflated, Hermione nearly cursed out loud.

'Well, well!' Dumbledore said brightly. 'The two of you do have us all very confused and, frankly, stumped!'

'We do Professor?' Hermione asked. She was still staring at her quilt, annoyed that Ron had been interrupted.

'Yes you do! I might not have believed Madam Pomfrey if she had told me you were balancing your pain between you, but I witnessed it with my own eyes. Are you aware of what happened?'

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

'I don't think we were consciously aware of it, Professor,' Hermione replied, 'but when we woke up we both knew what had happened. It was like this morning when we both thought we were dreaming, when we weren't.'

'Ah yes, if one of you could explain what has happened to the both of you since this morning it may help us.'

To Ron's surprise, Hermione made a small noise of what he thought was defiance.

Professor Dumbledore seemed to notice but chose to ignore it. Ron decided it might be better if he spoke, he wasn't sure what was annoying Hermione, although he did know it wasn't anything to do with him.

'Well Professor, we both thought we were dreaming, but we found out later that we weren't. We both had a headache, and – I presume it was the same for Hermione – we both subconsciously knew what would make it go away. We got out of bed and sat on the floor. I reached out for Hermione's hand, it was strange, I knew that she'd be there, like a sixth sense or something.' He thought for a seconds and then shrugged. 'Anyway we pulled towards each other and touched foreheads. After that the pain went away. I think we went to sleep where we were…well; we woke up lying on the floor so I presume we did. When we woke up it happened again so we touched foreheads again and it worked. We thought it was best that we came here and, well, Madam Pomfrey saw the rest.'

'Ah yes, Madam Pomfrey explained to me last night what happened when you came here. I must say we are still at a loss to explain why you were unable to stop the pain the second time, but anyway we would like to test the strength of your 'connection' in the same way Professor Slughorn did.'

Hermione looked over at Ron and he gave her a half smile. She pulled the covers off her and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

'What are you doing?' Ron asked as he stood up and took a step towards Hermione.

'I'm getting up so we can see if our _situation_ has changed.'

'No you're not,' Ron said simply.

'Why not?'

'Because I don't want you bleeding all over the corridor that's why. If you faint, chances are you're gonna smack your head on something, you do have a track record so don't even try and deny it!'

He grinned and Hermione returned the smile.

'Okay then, just…be careful, don't think I've forgotten that you fell off your bed when you fainted!'

Ron laughed. 'I'll be careful.'

Dumbledore ushered Ron towards the door and Madam Pomfrey stood next to Hermione's bed, after insisting Hermione sit on it fully. She didn't like the idea of Hermione feeling faint, whilst sat on the edge of the bed.

Dumbledore stopped at the doors and turned back to Hermione and the nurse.

'Ready?' he asked with a smile.

Hermione nodded, she had suddenly come over very nervous and had to take a deep breath before she hyperventilated.

She watched as Dumbledore pushed open the door with his good hand and ushered Ron out of the room. Hermione held her breath as she watched the door swing shut. She waited for the black spots to invade her peripheral vision but none came.

She was about to comment on the fact when her temples gave an almighty throb. Her hands went to her head and she closed her eyes against the pain.

'Miss Granger! What's wrong, is it your head again?'

Somehow Hermione managed to nod her head.

'Right, this has to stop.'

'No! Wait!' Hermione found herself saying.

'Miss Granger?'

'We haven't…we haven't fainted…yet, we n…need to see if…if we do.'

Her head gave another painful throb and she couldn't hold back the cry of pain that escaped her.

'I don't care Miss Granger, this has got to stop!'

Madam Pomfrey marched to the doors and wrenched them open.

'Headmaster! I must insist that this stop right now!'

She watched as Ron pushed passed her and ran to Hermione's bedside.

He grabbed her hand and held it tightly.

'Are you okay?' he asked, slightly breathless. 'Do you need to, you know?'

Hermione shook her head before stopping abruptly, it didn't help her pain.

'No, it's going. How about you?'

'Yeah, mine's going too.'

'Good.'

'Well…this makes things slightly more interesting…doesn't it?'

Hermione smiled.

'Yeah I suppose it does, we don't faint anymore, just endure head crushing pain instead!'

He laughed, and Hermione managed to raise a smile, her pain nearly gone.

'Yes, I don't know which one I prefer, being rendered unconscious for a few hours but with no pain, or a splitting headache and staying awake.'

'Well I suppose this is better, if we can find a way to stop the pain then we might be able to, well, leave each other's company.'

Despite the possibility that their 'condition' might be combated sooner rather than later, Hermione felt a slight regret at the thought. She wasn't sure if the sudden emotion the flowed through her had been solely hers.

'Woah,' Ron mumbled.

She wasn't sure if that confirmed her suspicions or not.

There was a frantic knocking on the door.

'Oh bloody hell!'

'What?' Hermione asked Ron, who had sagged and was now using her bed as a support.

'Lavender's outside, she's demanding she see me, but-'

Hermione raised her eyes to the door when she heard shouting on the other side.

'And er, Ginny and Harry are here too.'

'Well Ginny certainly is!' Hermione said with a sly smile.

'Oh for goodness sake!' Madam Pomfrey said from behind them.

She marched to the door and wrenched it open and had a few choice, stern words for Lavender and Ginny, and an instruction to stand outside the hospital wing quietly until they were called for.

When she returned to the end of Hermione's bed she turned to look at Dumbledore, waiting for his suggestion of what they should do next.

'Well I think that gave us all food for thought! At the minute I suggest all arrangements that were put in place when this, ah, affliction, first became a problem stay in place. If you don't mind though Ronald, Hermione, I may ask that you come back to the hospital wing if we come up with any suggestions that may put an end to this situation.'

Ron nodded and Hermione did the same, trying desperately to ignore the feeling that had come flooding back to her when Dumbledore mentioned their connection coming to an end.

'I do believe you have some visitors, but I would suggest they only spend ten minutes here each. I cannot have any more of my students becoming ill, because they have spent their lunch time here and not in the Great Hall eating.'

'Is it lunch time already?' Hermione asked. 'Merlin I've missed far too many lessons!'

Dumbledore smiled.

'Do not worry Miss Granger I am sure you will be able to catch up easily. I have informed your teachers that you will not be in lessons today and they have been kind enough to prepare a set of notes for you, and you Ronald, so you should find catching up quite easy.'

'Thank you professor,' Hermione said.

'Yeah, thanks,' Ron said, although without the enthusiasm Hermione had mustered.

'Well, I shall leave you with your guests.'

He turned and walked out of the room.

'Could you ask Lavender to come in first please, Professor?' Ron asked Dumbledore's retreating form.

'Of course Ronald,' Dumbledore replied.

'You don't mind, do you?' Ron quickly asked Hermione. 'I'd just like to get this over and done with as soon as possible.'

'Er, yeah, okay, that's fine,' she replied, not really understanding what Ron wanted to get out of the way. 'Remember what I said though Ron, you can cast Muffliato if you want, I won't be annoyed.'

'Thanks, I…I think I will.'

'_Won-Won!_'

Ron automatically stepped back from Hermione's bed and reluctantly let go of her hand. He wasn't quick enough, however, as Lavender noticed their grasped hands and instantly angered.

'What's going on?' she demanded.

'What?' Ron replied. 'Nothing, come round here,' he said, walking around Hermione's bed to his own. 'I need to talk to you about something. You'd better sit down.'

When she had he turned to Hermione and picked up his wand off the bedside table.

'Are you sure?' he asked with a smile.

'I'm sure.'

She laid back down on the bed and closed her eyes.

Ron pointed his wand at Hermione and muttered the spell.

Hermione's ears were filled with a faint but persistent buzzing. It wasn't unpleasant, just a little annoying if anything, but she didn't mind, she knew it wouldn't be for long.

She was just settling into her bed when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She was surprised to see Ron standing over her obviously trying to suppress a giggle.

'What is it?' she asked, her voice coming through to her ears slightly distorted.

She saw Ron wave his wand and say a spell of some sort. The buzzing stopped.

'What is it?' she repeated, glad to hear her voice was back to normal as far as her ears were concerned.

'Er,' Ron said through a giggle. 'Apparently if someone curses or hexes you, I feel the effects as well. I couldn't hear a thing!' He giggled again.

'You have got to be joking!' Hermione said with a smile.

'Nope, not joking.'

His smile slipped a little. 'It does mean than you'll have to listen to, well, you know what.'

In truth Hermione wasn't exactly sure what Ron was referring to, but she was stopped in asking by Lavender.

'_Ro-oo-oo-on!_' she whined. 'We've only got ten minutes together and you're wasting them talking to…_her!_'

Ron reddened and anger flashed in his eyes. He closed them and took a deep breath.

'See you in a bit.'

Hermione smiled at him, trying to calm him down a bit before he turned back to Lavender. She turned onto her side, away from Ron's bed and heard the curtains being drawn.

'Right Lavender,' Ron said, his tone annoyed. Hermione was slightly shocked.

'I'd really like it if you stopped referring to Hermione as _her_. Hermione is her name and I'd appreciate it if you used it!'

Hermione tried desperately hard to stop the smile slide across her face and the warm feeling growing in her stomach but she couldn't.

'But _Won-Won!_ She's been so awful to you these past few weeks, since Christmas!'

'Well in all fairness, I was hardly nice to her, it's nothing more than I deserved, anyway, we're friends again now, and I want you to treat her with respect, she deserves it!'

'What's going on between you?' Lavender demanded, smelling a rat in Ron's behaviour.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

'What? Nothing! We're friends, best friends, but nothing more.'

Hermione knew the squirming in her stomach wasn't due to what she was feeling, Ron was uncomfortable. The question was, why?

'Don't give me that rubbish!' Lavender shrieked. 'I saw you holding her hand when I came in here, and I don't know if you remember but I saw you this morning! You were so close to her you could have kissed her!'

Ron looked at Lavender and saw her eyes were filling with tears.

'Here we go,' he said under his breath.

'I just don't know where I stand with you Ron! You know how I feel about you, but I have absolutely no idea how you feel about me!'

_Has she finished?_ Ron thought.

Lavender looked at her hands which were fidgeting in her lap.

Ron sighed, he needed to end this now, he couldn't cope with this much longer.

'Look Lavender, I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you but…but…'

Hermione knew he had run out of steam and didn't know how to phrase what he wanted to say.

Hermione concentrated on what she wanted Ron to feel and closed her eyes in concentration.

'I just-' Ron started, before stopping. Hermione knew he had just felt what she had being trying to communicate to him. She heard him take a deep breath before talking again.

'Look, I lied before, Hermione and me are more than just best friends, but not in the way you think. This connection, thing, it's made me realise…stuff, about myself more than anything, and I need to start being more truthful with myself and to start being proud of the person I am. Well, at the minute I'm not proud of the person I am, because I'm…I'm, well, I just don't think what I'm doing when it comes to you is right. I'm sorry Lavender, I think we should…stop seeing each other.'

Hermione was expecting a very loud sob from Lavender and she wasn't disappointed. She wasn't, however, expecting Lavender to sprint out of the room and not look back at Ron.

She sat up and looked over at Ron. He was perched on his bed with his back to her.

'Ron?' she asked quietly.

He cleared his throat. 'Yeah?' he replied softly.

'Are you okay?' Hermione asked.

'Er…yeah, I'm fine.'

Hermione knew he was lying. She slowly and quietly got out of bed and walked around to Ron. She stood in front of him and looked at the mess of red hair that was hiding his face.

He looked up at her and gave her half a smile.

'I'm er…sorry you had to watch that.'

'Don't worry about that. I don't believe you.'

'About what?'

'I don't believe you're okay.'

'Oh, that. There's no point in even trying to lie to you, is there?'

She smiled. 'No, none at all. We lost that ability two weeks ago. Look Ron, It's okay to feel upset, it's not a nice thing to have to do.'

'I just feel bad, that's all. I don't like hurting people. I don't want people to think I'm a bad person.'

Hermione put a finger under Ron's chin and pushed his head up high.

'You are in _no way_ a bad person Ronald Weasley, you are kind and caring and protective to a point of stupidity, but you are not a bad person.'

He smiled at her.

'Thanks,' he replied quietly.

Hermione was hoping that the knot in her stomach that she knew belonged to Ron, not her, would lessen, but it didn't.

'You're not convinced, are you?'

Ron gave a shrug and let his head drop.

Hermione watched as her hand made it's way into his hair, gently twisting a few strands around her finger. Ron closed his eyes and sighed.

Hermione took her hand from his hair and took both of his hands in hers. She took a step back and pulled him off the bed.

Before he realised what Hermione was doing he felt himself being pulled towards her. He watched her arms go around his back and he closed his eyes as he felt her hug him.

He wrapped his arms around her back and breathed in deeply, feeling a little calmer.

'I don't hug bad people,' Hermione said quietly. 'So that settles it.'

Ron smiled. 'Are you sure you don't just have a soft spot for this one?'

Hermione giggled. 'Well, I might have, but that's beside the point.'

Neither of them noticed the doors opening behind them.

'Merlin above!' Harry said quietly.

'Bloody hell!' Ginny mumbled.

'I think we can leave the questions 'til later on, don't you.' Harry said with a grin.

'Er, yeah…I'd say so. Come on, we'd better go before they spot us.'

'Good idea, although, by the looks of things they only have eyes for each other.'

* * *

**Oh, and how nice am I, this is twice the normal length chapters, guilt does these things to you, tis my apology for the wait! ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

She was walking through somewhere. She wasn't sure where but it was familiar and comforting. She couldn't see anyone around her but she knew she wasn't alone. Her surroundings came more into focus, there was grass under her feet and the sky was blue, not a light blue, a darker blue. She surmised it was early evening, her favourite time of day. She smiled and carried on walking, feeling the presence of the person who she knew was there but couldn't see, move towards her.

He liked this time of day, the sun was streaming down on him and the sky was a light blue colour. The grass was soft beneath his bare feet and he felt calm as he walked. He didn't really know where he was, but he liked it. He felt safe, and there was a presence here that made him feel comforted. He looked to his right and felt the pull of … something, lure him in the same direction, like when the pull of the wind turned a broomstick that way and you let it follow it's natural course. Whatever that presence was, he presumed it was a person that was over there, he wanted to move towards it.

The two of them walked a path that brought them together. They moved in parallel for a while, just knowing the other was there whilst they were walking. After a while they stopped and turned to face each other, neither had consciously thought to stop but they both did so at the same time.

They looked at each other and smiled, they took a step towards the other and joined hands. It was comfortable and felt like the most natural thing in the world. He leaned down towards her and she tilted her face towards him and they kissed.

…oooOOOooo…

Hermione woke with a start and took in a deep breath and rolled onto her back. She stared at the ceiling, her heart racing and her breathing heavy. The images that had been filling her subconscious mind flooded her conscious thought and she couldn't get rid of them. Not that she really wanted to, but she couldn't let herself carry on thinking about _that_. She wouldn't be able to look Ron in the eye for the rest of the day if she didn't.

She cleared her mind and thought of her calming environment. I field of grass, in the early evening …

She tutted.

'Well that's just fantastic!' she mumbled, before rolling back onto her side and trying to get back to sleep.

_This is bloody ridiculous!_ Ron thought to himself as he stared at the ceiling. He'd been doing it for the past five minutes, and was starting to get annoyed with himself.

He'd tried thinking of what relaxed him, Quidditch obviously, but that, and remembering the feeling of just letting the wind take you where it wanted to, took him right back to what woke him up in the first place.

Kissing Hermione.

Yes, he'd dreamt _about_ her before, but that was definitely the first time he remembered kissing her properly.

He thought about it for a few more seconds before physically shaking his head to clear his mind of the image. He couldn't let himself think about that. It's just because of this connection, _thing_, he thought.

'Yeah, that's all it is,' he mumbled as he turned onto his side and tried to get back to sleep.

…oooOOOooo…

Hermione woke up at the sound of their alarm clock and rolled with a small moan onto her side. She was tired and she knew exactly why. It wasn't the dream she'd had that stopped her going back to sleep, it was the fact that her brain seemed intent on analysing what it meant whilst he was supposed to be relaxing and getting back to sleep that was the problem. She sighed and pulled her curtains back from her bed and walked into the bathroom.

Ron heard Hermione get out of bed and knew he had five minutes lying around time before she would be finished. That was they way it worked, that was what they had decided to do every morning, since the third morning they had been here. They'd never really discussed their 'bathroom usage' arrangements, but had just fallen into a pattern. It suited Ron. Whilst he knew he couldn't go back to sleep without a mental fight from Hermione, he could at least enjoy five minutes of lying in a nice toasty bed.

Well, normally he would enjoy it, today he was thinking far too much for his liking.

'It was just a dream, Weasley. Nothing more, you've dreamt about her before for Merlin's sake!'

_But not like that!_ He thought to himself.

'You can shut up!' he mumbled in response to the reasonable thoughts his mind was making him think.

_Is it such a bad thing you're dreaming of kissing her?_ He thought.

'Yes!' he said out loud. 'It's _Hermione!_'

'What's Hermione?' the girl herself asked from the other side of his hangings.

If he had been sat down he'd have fallen off his chair he jumped so much. As it was he sat straight up in bed, eyes wide and face reddening.

'Er, it's you … you're here … that means you're out the bathroom, which means I can go in.'

His sentence got a lot quicker as his lie fell into place, bit by bit.

'Oh, that really was a massive lie, Ron. Surely you haven't forgotten I can feel the panic that your feeling at the minute, and felt the moment I asked "What's Hermione?"'

_Bugger! _He thought.

He actually had forgotten about their emotional connection.

He was about to argue Hermione's point, still through his bed hangings before she cut him off.

'As much as I would love to continue this discussion with you, Ron, I have a feeling it would make us late for breakfast. So if you wouldn't mind, I'll just get changed and you can use the bathroom.'

'Er okay,' he mumbled.

He walked to the bathroom the long way round, taking the route down the side of his bed that was further away from Hermione.

Five minutes later the two of them were sat in the Great Hall, ready to face their school day like normal. However, both of them were slightly concerned about the uncomfortable feeling in their stomachs.

It was strange, it wasn't nervousness, worry, jealousy, (they both definitely knew what that felt like,) anger, jubilation or anything else they could think of. It was just, strange! And it stayed with them throughout the rest of the day.

…oooOOOooo…

Ron sighed as he collapsed backwards onto the foot of his bed, eyes closed and lying down, legs hanging over the edge and his feet still touching the floor. He was glad the school day was over.

He opened his eyes a touch and watched Hermione do the exact same thing, which surprised him.

'You okay?' he asked as he propped himself on his elbows and looked over at her.

'Yeah,' she sighed.

'Wow, that was convincing!'

She smiled. 'Sorry, I'm just tired. Didn't get much sleep last night, actually that means you didn't either. Are you tired?'

'A bit.'

He was glad Hermione hadn't turned to look at him, he knew he had turned slightly red, but he wasn't surprised, he had grown hot every time he had thought about the previous nights dream.

Hermione's eyes were open, there was a simple reason for this; every time she closed them she saw herself kissing Ron. She was glad neither Harry or Ron had asked to copy her notes from their classes today, they were not up to her usual standard. She had been mortified to find herself daydreaming, and more than once a well!

'Hermione,' Ron started before thinking for a few seconds.

'Yes?' she asked.

'Have you been feeling…weird today?'

Hermione sat up and turned so she was facing Ron.

Ron watched as Hermione pulled her legs in front of her and leant on her hand, leaning to her left. Ron's eyes fell to her legs and they lingered there for a few seconds.

'Er…' Hermione said.

Ron's eyes flew to her face and away from where they had been looking. He reddened instantly and wished Hermione would look away.

'Actually,' she continued, 'I have a bit, but I don't know why and I can't really understand what I've been feeling.'

'Me too!' Ron said quickly, startling Hermione slightly. 'I dunno what I'm feeling but I'm definitely feeling something! I'm guessing that we're feeling the same thing.'

'Yes, I think so.'

Hermione watched as Ron fiddled with the cuff of his robes. She looked at his long fingers and thought about how light his touch was, but how powerful his hands looked.

In her peripheral vision she saw Ron look back up at her. She bushed and quickly looked away from him.

'So, we have no idea what this feeling is that we both have and have had all bloody day. Brilliant!'

'Ron, there's no need to swear! I know this feeling is strange but at least we're not collapsing from unbearable headaches. We must at least be grateful for that!'

Ron sighed and collapsed back down on his bed. He watched as Hermione stood up off hers and walked around it to the head of it. She pulled off her outer robes and folded them neatly. She then pulled off her school jumper and did the same with that.

Ron couldn't help but stare at her, then he realised how obvious he was being.

_Stop staring at your best friend while she takes her jumper off Weasley!_

He tried, he really did, but he couldn't help but steal a glimpse as Hermione loosened her tie and pulled it over her head and undid the top button of her shirt.

He realised he had stopped breathing and quickly started again before he suffered from hypoxia.

'Do you mind if we stay up a bit longer or do you want to go to sleep?' Hermione asked Ron. 'Only, if you don't mind I'd rather stay up longer, then hopefully I'll be tired enough to sleep through the night and not have very vivid dreams in the middle of the night.

Ron sat up sharply and stared at Hermione.

'Did you have a strange dream too? He asked.

'Er,' Hermione replied, blushing once again at the thought of where her mind had taken her to the previous night. 'Yes, it was strange.'

She couldn't meet his eye as she took some parchment out of her bag.

'Oh, me too,' Ron mumbled.

'What, er…what was yours about?' she asked with an attempt at nonchalance.

'Oh er, I can't really remember the details. How about yours?'

'Same really,' she replied, still not meeting his eye. 'So do you mind if we stay up for a bit longer?'

'No, not at all. Anything to keep me dream free!'

…oooOOOooo…

They walked hand in hand in hand for a while, walking in silence. The sky was a royal blue, not quite evening but the sun was setting and leaving distorted shadows on the ground.

After walking for a little while longer they stopped and turned to each other, still holding hands and gradually closing the gap between them. Their lips met. Her hands found his hair and his neck and his found her waist and her back. The kiss deepened and they pulled their bodies together so they were touching.

The sky above them was getting lighter, gradually losing the bright blue colour and fading to white.

'Hermione!' Ron shouted, at the same time Hermione yelled, 'Ron!'

They both lay in their beds, breathing heavily and stared, eyes wider than they had ever been before, at the ceiling.

They knew the other was awake and had both heard the other's outburst. They both know knew that they had been sharing a dream and both realised their previous night's dream had been joint too.

'Ron?' Hermione asked in a whisper, hoping against all hope that a miracle had happened and Ron was still asleep.

'Yeah?' he answered as quietly as she had spoken.

'Er… So we're er… sharing…'

'Dreams,' he said matter-of-factly, but he couldn't hide the slight shake in his voice.

'Yeah,' she replied.

'Do we er…need to talk ab-'

'In the morning, Ron, if you don't mind.'

'Oh! No I don't mind! Yeah, in the morning. The morning's fine! Of course. Well… goodnight then.'

He scowled at the amount of insincerity in his voice. He had never heard himself sound so fake. He didn't like it.

He heard Hermione roll over and let his mind wander back to the kiss they had both just shared in his, _their_ dream, and despite the uncomfortable situation he now found himself in with Hermione he smiled.

Hermione rolled over and suddenly the image of her kissing Ron filled her mind. She tried to ignore it and come up with all sorts of logical reasons as to why they were now sharing dreams as well as everything else. But as much as she tried, she kept remembering how good it had felt. How natural and _normal_ it felt.

She couldn't help but smile.

* * *

**Please let me know what you think ;)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Well, I make you wait over a month for an update, and then you get two in the space of a week! Just don't expect a third too soon:D**

**If you're not in a mood for a huge amount of fluffiness I suggest you wait to read this until you are, but I make no apologies for it! You shoud all know to expect some sappiness from me on occasion!**

**You've all been wonderfeul with your reviews, so if you could carry on being wonderful, it would be much appreciated :D**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 19

It was seven in the morning, but neither Ron nor Hermione were asleep. They had woken up a few minutes ago, but neither of them had made a conscious effort to go back to sleep. They had other things on their mind.

'Well, a dream didn't wake us up, and there's no way in hell I'd voluntarily wake up at this ridiculous hour, so I'm gonna blame you, that okay?' Ron asked, breaking the silence, with half a smile on his face.

Hermione could tell he was smiling and, therefore, joking with her. She chuckled.

'Well I don't know why I woke up if it _was_ me, as you said, we weren't dreaming, and we don't feel unwell, so…I'm stumped!'

'Please don't say things like that, Hermione!'

'Like what?' she asked confused.

'It scares me when you say you don't know something. You know everything!'

Hermione laughed out loud.

'What do you want, Ron?'

'What do you mean 'what do I want?''

'You're flattering me, you obviously want something! What homework haven't you finished?'

Ron chuckled. 'Actually believe it or not, I am up to date with my homework. This whole living with you thing has done wonders for my schoolwork!'

Hermione smiled but didn't reply. Ron's comment had brought their conversation right back to what they were obviously avoiding.

'So, er…' Ron said. 'The…dream thing…'

Hermione was both relieved that Ron had brought up the subject, and anxious at the same time.

'Apparently it's not enough that we share our emotions, our pain, and any hex that we are hit with, we now invade each other's subconscious escapism too!' Ron continued.

Hermione frowned and for the minute bypassed the fact that Ron had come out with the phrase 'subconscious escapism'. Something else he had said had surprised her.

'_Invade_ is a bit harsh isn't it?' she asked.

'Well, what is it if it isn't invasion?'

'Sharing?' Hermione replied.

Ron chuckled. 'That is such a girlie way to put it!'

Hermione smiled. 'And _invasion_ is such a chess playing way of putting it! Anyway I'm sure we're going off on a tangent! Our dreams are joined, and they're…'

What were they exactly? She thought.

'Hermione,' Ron said, before thinking to himself.

'What?' she asked.

'Do you mind if we go for a walk or something. Before breakfast, I promise it won't make us late for lessons!'

'Er, yeah, if you want, and you definitely won't make us late for lessons Ron, it's Saturday!'

'_I'm awake on a Saturday at seven am_? That's just wrong! But, then again, we can spend longer outside! Come on!'

He pulled his hangings back and Hermione did the same, an amazed smile on her face.

'_Outside?_ But Ron, it's still dark! And there's all the extra security, we'll never get out!'

'Ah, come on Hermione! Where's your sense of adventure?'

'It was hexed out of me at the Ministry last summer!'

Ron laughed, but stopped on his way to the bathroom.

'Look, I know this is a little strange, but I just need to get out of the castle, and I want to show you something. We can steal Harry's invisibility cloak and no one'll see us.'

Hermione was still unsure about this. Surely what Ron wanted to show her wasn't worth a lifetime of detentions and possible suspension? She was about to argue her point when Ron's excitement flooded through her. She felt exhilarated, and the nagging thoughts about rules left her mind.

'So, is that smile a yes then?' Ron asked, a cheeky smile of his own meeting Hermione's eyes.

'Yes, alright!'

'Cool! I won't be long!'

Ten minutes later Ron and Hermione were crouched under the invisibility cloak, stood in front of the entrance to the castle, but on the wrong side to what they wanted to be.

They had quietly made their way through the castle to Gryffindor tower, only once being disturbed by Mrs. Norris. Ron had pulled Hermione into the same corridor that Hermione had forced him into days earlier when she had confronted him about using her to escape Lavender, except this time, they had fallen into each others arms, flushed from the quick escape, and had taken a few seconds to realise where they were, the first few being used to work out whether the mangy cat had left the corridor they wanted to be in. Neither of them wanted to admit to themselves that nothing felt more comfortable than being in the other's arms, and they had carried on into the Gryffindor common room as if nothing had happened.

Harry had agreed to let them borrow his invisibility cloak, although Hermione was less than convinced that Harry was fully awake, and she had a feeling Harry wouldn't remember their broken conversation when he did wake fully.

As they had discovered before they arrived at Hogwarts when they were following Malfoy through Diagon and Knockturn Alley, it was noe becoming much harder to walk normally under it, mainly because of Ron's continual growth in height. They both knew that it would have been much easier to walk under the cloak with an arm around the other's waist, but both ignored this very logical act, and managed to make their way to the entrance hall without tripping or unintentionally pulling the cloak off them. Now they just had to get out the castle.

'Er, Ron. We seem to have a problem, unless the door's been charmed to open when you stare at it intently, we can't get out. I doubt there's going to be a teacher up at this time to open it, and even if there was, I don't think I need to remind you that we shouldn't be doing this.'

Ron simply turned to her and smiled.

'Oh ye of little faith! Do you think I went into this whole thing without a plan? I'm offended, Hermione!'

Hermione was about to argue Ron's point when the door opened from the outside. Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her towards the door. Hermione watched as Hagrid trudged into the castle. Ron pulled Hermione through the quickly closing door and it shut behind them with a loud thunk. They heard a series of extra thunks as the various bolt, bars and locks slid into place, and they heard the swish of what could only be an umbrella moving deftly through the air. Hermione felt the air around the door crackle, there was no way anyone was getting through that door, which did beg the question, how were they going to get back in?

Ron kept a tight hold of Hermione's hand and guided her away from the castle as comfortably as they could while still under the invisibility cloak. Hermione smiled to herself when Ron didn't let go, but she tried to suppress the feeling of almighty glee inside her so Ron wouldn't feel it too. Little did she know that Ron was trying to suppress the same feeling.

'So, what do you want to show me that was so fantastic we had to break most of the school rules to see?'

'You'll see in a bit.'

She wasn't sure if the squeeze Ron gave her hand was subconscious or not, but she returned it anyway.

They continued to walk away from the castle and down towards the lake, and they finally stopped when they got to the water's edge, still in close proximity and still under the invisibility cloak.

'You brought me to see _the lake_ at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning? Hermione asked with a cheeky smile.

'You know, you are getting far too cheeky Hermione Granger, I think I shall have to tell McGonagal of your cheekiness and suggest she strip you of your title of prefect! And anyway, it's not seven o clock anymore, it's nearly twenty to eight!'

Hermione was, once again, about to open her mouth argue against Ron's point but, once again she was interrupted, this time by the man himself.

'Luckily for you, your dawdling…ness…didn't make us miss what we're here for; we actually have a few minutes to wait. Do you mind if we sit down?'

Once again Hermione was cut off before she had started talking by Ron.

'Good!'

He waved his wand over the frost-covered grass and it dried and warmed slightly.

'You've gone awfully quiet, Hermione!'

Finally he gave her the chance to reply to him.

'Well, if you'd give me the chance to reply I bloody well would've done! And don't even think about having a go at me for swearing, Ronald! In the last two minutes you have called me cheeky, suggested I wasn't responsible enough to be a prefect and called me a dawdler! And don't even get me started on your attempts to bring new words to the English language!'

Although her words could be considered harsh, she had said the whole of her piece with a smile on her face and at the end of it Ron laughed out loud.

'So, are we sitting?' Ron asked, as if Hermione hadn't just spent the last minute ranting at him.

Hermione shrugged, realising her words had had very little effect. 'Yeah, okay then. She looked at the ground and the cloak that covered them. 'Er, how are we going to work this? I don't think the cloak will quite cover us if we sit side by side.'

'Oh, right. Well, if you didn't mind…I could…sit behind you.'

'I don't mind!' Hermione replied, a little too enthusiastically for her own liking.

'Oh! Okay then. Good!'

Ron waited for Hermione to sit down on the patch of grass he had dried and warmed for them and then crouched down behind her. He shuffled his feet forward, either side of Hermione before sitting down and stretching his legs out as far as the cloak would let him. If he was honest with himself, it wasn't the most comfortable position in the world, but at that moment in time, he didn't really care.

'Comfy?' he asked Hermione as he slowly inched forward, careful not to make too much contact with her.

'Yeah, I am, thank you for asking. Now, do I finally get to know what were here for?'

'You'll know when it happens,' he said quietly.

He hadn't meant to breathe on the back of Hermione's exposed neck, her hair being in a ponytail, but he had and he felt her shudder.

'Sorry,' he said quietly, 'I didn't mean to make you shiver.'

'It's okay,' Hermione replied, although she wasn't quite sure how she had managed to make her mouth form words. She was just very relieved that Ron couldn't see the nice shade of pink she knew her face had turned. The heat radiating from her cheeks was enough to melt all the frost in the Hogwarts grounds.

'So,' she said quietly, 'these dreams we're having, what do you make of them.'

'In a minute,' he said, 'just look up at the horizon.'

Hermione did what she was told and was surprised to see the sky above the horizon had lightened considerably. A few seconds later she gasped when the sun cam over the horizon line.

'It's beautiful isn't it?' Ron whispered in her ear.

Hermione couldn't breathe properly. She had never seen a sunrise before; she thought it was exactly what Ron had said: beautiful. This, along with the fact that Ron was whispering in her ear made her shiver once more.

Ron instantly moved his arms around her waist to try and warm her up. She tensed slightly and he felt it, he quickly pulled his arms back.

'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'I didn't mean-'

'I'm still cold,' she said, cutting him off. 'Would you mind?'

'Oh, if you want me to then…of course.'

He placed his arms back around her waist, this time she didn't tense; she relaxed and leant back a touch. He took the initiative and leaned into her back.

They both sat in silence, watching the sun continue to rise.

After a few minutes Ron cleared his throat.

'Hermione, why doesn't this feel…wrong, or weird?' he whispered.

'I don't know, Ron. My brain's telling me it should, but it doesn't.'

She put her hands on his and slowly stroked the back of his hands with her thumbs.

'Maybe it's the potion doing it,' he said, although his tone made it obvious he wasn't entirely sure this was true.

'Maybe,' Hermione replied in the same tone.

'Did you like it then?' Ron asked, changing the subject. 'The sunrise that is, I know you haven't seen one before and I thought you'd like it.'

'It's beautiful, Ron, but how did you know I've never seen one before? I don't remember telling you that.'

'You didn't, I overheard you telling Ginny last summer. You said you'd never seen a sunrise or a falling star. Well, at least now you've seen one of the two, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about the other one!'

She chuckled. 'No there's not. But thank you for remembering and showing me this, it was very thoughtful.'

Ron reddened, and, like Hermione, was very glad that no one could see him.

'So, these dreams.'

'These dreams,' Hermione replied quietly.

'Do you have any idea what they might mean?'

'I'm not sure really. I suppose… The way I see it is, they seem to be progressing, like it's a story or a film or something. Maybe we just…see where they lead. What do you think?'

'It's an idea, and I have a feeling we're gonna keep having them, so maybe it's best not to fight them and just see what happens.'

'Yeah,' Hermione whispered. 'We'll do that.'

They fell silent for a while, just looking at the sunrise.

'Do you want to go inside?' Ron asked. The best bit's kind of over!'

Hermione smiled. 'If you want to.'

Ron's stomach rumbled loudly and Hermione burst into giggles.

'I'll take that as a yes then, shall I?'

She turned around and gasped when she realised how close to Ron's face she was. Ron couldn't do anything but stare into her eyes and Hermione couldn't tear hers away from his.

'Er…' Ron mumbled. 'Yeah…you should.'

Hermione looked away and Ron pulled back. She moved away from him and they both stood up, still managing to keep themselves covered by the invisibility cloak.

They gave each other a smile and started walking towards the castle.

'Hardly anyone will be at breakfast, you know,' Hermione said. 'Then again, you're probably glad, you can eat everyone else's food if they're not there!'

She grinned at him and Ron looked at her, slightly shocked.

'Oh, you're gonna pay for that!'

He pulled her towards him and started tickling her.

She shrieked and tried to pull away from him, but he was too strong for her.

'Ron! Stop it!' she said through her laughter. 'Someone'll hear us!'

Ron stopped tickling her but instead of letting her go, he tucked her under his arm and started walking her towards the castle.

She automatically put her arm around his waist and fell into step with his.

They reached the castle and Hermione turned and looked expectantly at Ron.

His face fell.

'Er, we may have a problem,' he said, realising his slight overlook.

'Oh you have got to be joking! You plan everything except how to get back into the sodding castle!'

Ron shuffled his feet and looked at the floor.

He turned to face the direction they had just come from.

'Wanna watch the sunrise with me Hermione?' he asked with an apologetic smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes at him but smiled.

'I'd love to.'


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

He could feel it, but he didn't know what it was. Not that this fact really bothered him anymore. He'd been feeling new and strange things for nearly three weeks now, he was almost used to it.

Almost.

'Well it's not tiredness, it's not discomfort, it's not embarrassment and it's not anger! What else is there that we haven't thought of?'

Hermione's words and verbal expression of thoughts had, for the third time that day, been the same as his own.

'It's not a…nasty feeling is it?' he asked whilst rolling onto his side and propping his head on his hand, his elbow digging into the mattress.

They had left the common room ten minutes ago, much to Harry's annoyance, not that either of them noticed, they both just knew that the other and themselves wanted to go to their room.

'Is it the same one we felt the other day?' Ron added to his earlier comment.

Hermione's brow furrowed and she thought for a minute, putting the book she was reading down on their desk.

'I think it might be, after we'd—'

She reddened. They had not spoken about their dreams since yesterday morning, and they had had another last night.

Both of them knew what was going to happen in their dream as soon as they realised they were walking on grass with the other next to them. They knew how long it would be before they turned and looked at each other, and they knew how long they would gaze into the others eyes before kissing. They were both expecting it, but that didn't stop the overwhelming mixture of emotions crashing through them when their lips met.

They had awoken when they had both let out the quietest moans of pleasure, the sound bringing them from their imaginations and back into the conscious world.

As their breathing slowed they shut their eyes and tried to get back to sleep, their only communication being a mumbled 'night Hermione,' and 'night Ron,' before drifting back off to sleep.

'After we'd what?' Ron asked.

'Er…after we'd had our first joint dream. I think it's the same feeling. I might be wrong though.'

'I doubt it!' Ron said with a smile. 'For what it's worth I don't think it's anything to worry about, and we'll find out eventually, that's the way this connection thing seems to work. We find something new, that we can't explain, then we normally collapse or something similar, then all becomes clear!'

Hermione chuckled. 'Sounds about right!'

Ron rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling, content. He was calm and peaceful, except for the unexplained feeling but as Hermione had put it, it wasn't painful or an uncomfortable feeling, it was just…there.

'Have you got my Herbology book?' Hermione asked Ron after a few minutes. Ron had heard her shuffling things around, and now knew why.

'Hermione, I'm lying on my bed trying to ignore your studious actions, do I look like I have your Herbology book?'

Hermione tutted and looked up at Ron.

'I'll take that as a no then, shall I?' she said sounding slightly annoyed.

Ron chuckled and sat up.

'Where did you last have it?'

'If I knew that it wouldn't be lost, would it?'

Ron rolled his eyes.

'Okay then, where were you when you last remember having it?'

Hermione stopped pulling the pillows off her bed and set her mind to remembering where she had last had her book.

Ron managed to stifle a giggle after imagining Hermione keeping books under her pillow. He thought now was not the best time to tease her about that.

I wonder if she'll do that when we're older and marri— 

His eyes widened at his own thought and he temporarily stopped breathing. Luckily, Hermione was too deep in her own thoughts to notice.

'The last place I remember having it was in Herbology on Friday. I must have left it in the classroom,' she huffed as she sat heavily on the edge of her bed.

Ron shook his head and refocused his thoughts on Hermione and her Herbology book.

'So err…you don't remember having it after then?' he said.

'No, not at all. Oh I hope no one else has taken it, it had my own notes in and everything!'

Ron grinned but then changed his face to look shocked.

'Hermione Granger, am I hearing you correctly? _Have you written_ _in your precious textbooks_?'

'Oh sod off, Weasley!' she mumbled, but a smile played at her lips.

Ron chuckled and looked up at her. He knew her too well to know that she wouldn't be happy until she had her precious textbook back with her.

'Do you want to go and get it?' he asked her kindly.

She looked at him, trying to work out if he really didn't mind trekking all the way to the Herbology classroom and back, just for her textbook.

'It's not a hard decision, Hermione!' he prompted. 'A simple yes or no will do!'

She smiled. 'Are you sure you don't mind?'

'Nah, it's not that far, it's only on the other side of the castle after all!'

He grinned at her.

'Well if you're sure you don't mind!' Hermione said, matching Ron's grin and ignoring his last comment.

They left their room and walked in a comfortable silence down the stairs and through their grumpy-portrait-protected doorway.

They didn't really notice as they fell into step with each other and they didn't really notice when their hands touched and their little fingers hooked around the others, keeping a constant contact between them.

They didn't meet anyone in the corridors, dinner was long finished and the castle was cold. It was hardly inviting to go for a nighttime stroll through.

Something caught Ron's eye as they walked past an empty classroom. The door was slightly ajar and he thought he saw shadows inside it. If nothing else, it was his duty as a prefect to at least look concerned. He stopped abruptly and Hermione stopped when she felt her arm be pulled back when Ron didn't match her pace.

'What is it?' she asked, her brow furrowing.

'I think there's someone in there,' he nodded towards the open door.

'Well it might be a teacher, or a student. _Technically _the classrooms aren't out of bounds until after lights out so whoever it is, if they are students, aren't doing anything wrong…_technically_.'

'Well I suppose Perfect Prefect Granger knows the rule book inside out, so who am I to argue?'

'Who indeed?' Hermione replied, with a cheeky grin. 'Onward and…not very upward then?' she asked gesturing to the empty corridor in front of them.

'Onward and not very upward!' Ron echoed.

They had taken three steps along the corridor when Hermione felt a large hand clamp over her mouth and another large arm grab her around the waist and pull her backwards. Her eyes widened in shock and she heard Ron's frantic and angry shouts from next to her. She tired to pull at the arm over her mouth with her one free arm – the other having been pinned to her side by the arm holding her firmly – but to no avail.

She was swung around so she was facing Ron and she watched as he struggled against the person holding him. She couldn't see their face, it was covered with a balaclava, but she had a shrewd idea of who it was. Ron was being held in a chokehold and was turning redder as the seconds went on.

'_Gerroff…me!_' he managed to grunt out through his hold. He wriggled his right arm free and attempted to punch the one choking him in the face.

Hermione copied his actions but she felt her attacker – who she presumed was either Crabbe or Goyle by the looks of the one holding Ron – simply move his head out of her way. Ron had had a smaller amount of luck with his actions, he had caught the side of his attacker's face, but the padding of the wool over his cheek softened the blow.

Hermione gave up her punching and watched as a hooded figure stepped between her and Ron.

Ron's eyes widened as he recognised the shape and size of the figure.

'Malfoy!' he spat.

The grip around his neck tightened slightly and he made a choking sound.

'Put her in there,' the cloaked figure said as he nodded to the classroom to his right, behind Hermione, 'and him in there,' he nodded this time to the classroom to his left and behind Ron.

Ron growled in frustration and anger and Hermione's words were muffled against her holder's hand. She could feel both her and Ron's worry at what this might do to the both of them grow inside her. They hadn't tested their connection's strength for a few days now, but neither of them thought that it had reduced in strength. If anything, they thought the exact opposite.

Ron continued to struggle against his captor as he was dragged towards the open door. He desperately tried to think of something he could do, or something they could do together that might stop their bodies' reaction to their separation. He knew whatever they were, they weren't going to be pleasant. He shut his eyes when the grip around his neck tightened as he was dragged backwards into the classroom.

_I need to talk to her_! he thought desperately. _I need to—_

'Find me Hermione!' he managed to scream. He just hoped she knew what he meant. He was shoved bodily into the classroom and didn't manage to find his balance before the door was slammed shut behind him. He shut his eyes and waited for the unbearable pain in his head to arrive.

Hermione had watched as Ron had been dragged backwards towards the classroom on the other side of the corridor, before the strong arms around her had done the same thing.

Ron's words rattled around her head.

_What does he mean?_ She asked herself over and over again. She was shoved into a desk and fell heavily against it. She pushed herself onto her elbows and heard the door shut behind her. She screwed up her eyes, waiting for the pain to invade her temples, but as she did, she finally realised what Ron had meant.

When they were unconscious they had levelled out their pain between them and comforted each other during the whole ordeal, maybe they could do something…_anything_ to help each other so they could minimize their pain and any other side effects that might occur.

She tired to calm her breathing and relax her mind, but when she was just about relaxed she felt the throb of pain in her temples and across her forehead. She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain and focused on finding Ron.

She saw the place they went in their dreams, the sky was a dark but somehow bright blue, the grass was green underneath their feet and she could see him in front of her.

'Ron?' she said aloud, but the Ron in her mind's eye didn't acknowledge her.

Her head gave a throb and intensified. Tears burned her eyes.

'Ron, please! If you're there, talk to me!'

A tear fell down her face and the pain in her head became unbearable. Her legs went from underneath her and she fell to the floor heavily.

Her hands went to her head, pressing on her temples, trying desperately to alleviate the pain in any way she could, but to no avail. She tried once more to reach Ron. She tried to slow her breathing and focus on her image of Ron.

'Please, Ron!' she whimpered. 'Are you…there?'

She focused on the bright blue eyes that were looking down on her.

They blinked.

And that's when she knew her was with her.

'Ron!' she cried out, both in her mind and physically.

'Hermione!' he replied.

'It hurts Ron!' she said quietly, more tears falling down her face.

'Come here,' he rasped out.

Before she knew what he meant, he had pulled her towards him and their foreheads were touching.

It was the smallest amount of relief, but the fact that it was only a small amount of relief made her realise this wasn't going to work. However hard they tried, they weren't going to be able to fight this.

'Ah well…' Ron croaked out, 'was w…worth a…t…try…'

They both saw the black spots invade their peripheral vision and they looked at each other once more.

At the same time, they both tilted their heads up and their lips met. A second later their temples gave an almighty throb and they lost their battle with the blackness that was slowly overtaking them.

…oooOOOooo…

'Why are you looking so annoyed?' Ginny asked Harry.

They were both sat on squashy chairs around the fire in the common room. The room wasn't busy, but there was still a few people lazily sitting, reading and chatting the last few hours of their weekend away.

'I'm not annoyed!' Harry snapped at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. 'Okay, so the grumpy expression and the constant snapping is perfectly normal, is it?'

Harry huffed.

'Oh right, so now you're not even talking to me?' Ginny said, starting to get a little annoyed herself.

Harry shifted in his seat and finally looked at Ginny.

'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'I just—' he sighed loudly.

'Miss them?' Ginny finished for them.

He looked up at her again and she smiled kindly at him.

'Yeah,' he said quietly.

'You'll get them back soon enough, Harry. This thing isn't going to last forever!'

'Yeah, but when it's over, will they—'

He stopped and rubbed his face with his hand roughly.

'Will they what?'

'Will they…still want to hang round—?'

'Don't you dare finish that sentence Harry James Potter!'

'But you've seen the way they are together! I think even they've noticed what's going on between them and the way they are with each other. I know they've been completely oblivious up until the past week or so, but neither of them can ignore what's laid out before them for all to see!'

Despite the apparent seriousness of his little rant, Ginny smiled, amused.

'No, I don't think they can, and you're right, I think even _they've_ noticed how they're acting with each other! But that doesn't mean they'll leave you out Harry!'

Harry's eyes widened.

'Oh sod off! You know that's not what I meant! You're best friends, Harry, all three of you.'

'Well where are they now then?'

He inwardly cringed at how immature he sounded, but he thought he saw a look of understanding in Ginny's eyes.

'They'll come back to you Harry, don't worry. Just let them find each other first.'

Harry's mouth started to twist into a grin.

'And if you take that in any other way than it was meant I'll hex you!' Ginny said before standing from her chair and picking her books off the table.

Harry chuckled and Ginny grinned. Harry's stomach flipped and he quickly looked at the floor.

'Goodnight, Harry,' Ginny said before turning and heading off towards the girls' dormitory.

'Night Gin.'

He watched her walk out of sight and his stomach stopped flipping over. He sighed and looked at the embers, which were glowing in the fireplace, a few hours life left in them. He slowly stood and walked up the staircase to his dormitory.

He flopped down on his bed and for a minute contemplated looking at the Marauder's Map to see if Malfoy was up to no good. As much as he tried to ignore the persistent gnawing at the back of his mind about the blond haired wizard and his extra curricular activities, he couldn't. But tonight he didn't have the energy. Plus, he really didn't like the idea of finding Ron and Hermione on there. There were just some things he didn't need to know about.

Instead he got out the Prince's textbook and flicked through it, learning a couple more spells before dropping off to sleep, the Marauders' Map lying forgotten in the bottom of his trunk.

* * *

_So, I really wanted to post this chapter today because it's exactly a year since I posted my first chapter of my first ever Harry Potter fic here on I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's reviewed my stuff and those of you who continue to come back to the new stuff I write. It makes me very happy:D  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a while in coming, but my muse finally woke up from her coma and she has a cool way to wrap this fic up.  
Yes, very sorry but this one's coming to and end soonish! It's not gonna be an abrupt ending or anything! Anyone who knows me and my writing knows I need at least five chapters to wrap up a fic properly! But I thought I'd just warn you in advance!  
Please, please, please, please, please let me know what you think about this one. You've all been fab in your reviews so far (this is now my most reviewed fic!) so if you could do it once more, it'd make me very happy.  
Til next time tiddlypeeps!  
Step ;)_


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The slight draught through the Hogwarts first floor corridor didn't disturb the mousy brown, limp hair that Tonks had been stuck with for the past few months. She slowly strolled through the corridor, officially looking for any sign of trouble, or anything that seemed out of the ordinary, but in truth, her thoughts were a long way away from the castle, they weren't even in Scotland, they were in London, where she had last spoken to him.

Her fingers unconsciously gripped the piece of parchment in her pocket; it was this piece of parchment that gave her hope of something playing out between them in the future. It was this piece of parchment that kept her thoughts with Remus when they should have been on her job, he had given it her as a means of protection and, from what she had gathered, she had been the only one he had presented such a thing to. She smiled at the thought of him wanting to protect her and keep her safe, but she begged herself not to look too much into it. That would be most unhealthy.

It was quarter to four in the morning and she was starting to feel the cold, her latest warming charm on her cloak wearing off. She carried on along the corridor on the first floor, and realising she hadn't checked it for any signs of trouble last time she had walked along it, decided to do so this time.

She pulled the piece of parchment out of her cloak pocket and unfolded it. She touched the tip of her wand to the centre fold and muttered '_protect the noble fighter_.'

She couldn't help but smile at the saying needed to get the map to reveal itself; it was such a Gryffindor thing to say. It was Remus Lupin through and through. She watched as the lines of the castle drew themselves along the parchment and she saw the dot with the label 'Nymphadora Tonks' standing where she was indeed stood. She subconsciously wrinkled her nose at reading her whole name, she had asked Remus to change it so it just said 'Tonks' but he just smiled and simply replied, 'no'. Her dot self was pulsing in time with her heartbeat and it was also red, indicating she had a wand on her person.

Remus had explained briefly about the existence of a similar map that he, Sirius, James and the Traitor made together when they were at school. Remus had tried to come up with something similar to help with their evil-fighting duties and had come up with what was in her hand. He had only managed to make the one though, and he still wasn't happy with what it did. He wanted it to do more, but Tonks thought he had pinned down some vital information. What was more important than knowing whether your would-be attacker was armed or not? And she had then gone on to realise that the speed of someone's heartbeat could tell you a lot about their state of mind. That and whether they were alive or not.

Unlike the Marauder's Map, which, from what she had been told, showed all the Hogwarts grounds at once, and was therefore, quite large, this piece of parchment drew its new location as you moved. Another way in which Tonks thought Remus had shown his ingenuity, the smaller, and easier to find, the better.

She turned the corner in the corridor and walked a few paces before taking another glance at the parchment.

She did a double take and on the second look in as many seconds her eyes widened considerably.

She started sprinting down the corridor and skidded as her foot landed on something on the ground. Unable to balance herself she fell to the floor, cursing. She looked at what she had stood on and recognised it as a wand. She took another look at the parchment and swore loudly again.

She held her wand aloft and a large four-legged animal erupted out of it.

'_Find McGonagall or Dumbledore!_' she screeched at it.

The silver form started bounding down the corridor.

'_Whoever's closest! Quickly!_' Tonks screamed after it.

She scrambled to her feet and waved her wand at the door on her left. It unlocked with a click and she threw her shoulder against the wood. The door swung open and banged heavily against the wall. Another wave of her wand lit the torches on the walls and she saw what she hoped her precious piece of parchment had been wrong about: Hermione Granger flat out on the floor, white as a sheet, barely breathing, and with, according to Tonks' parchment, a heart that was barely beating.

…oooOOOooo…

Minerva McGonagall hurried through the castle as fast as she could, her tartan dressing gown being held around her by one arm and the other straight out in front of her pointing her wand light at the ground.

On receiving Tonks' patronus message she immediately set off, worried sick that a dark curse or wizard had hurt two of her students. She shouldn't have favourites, of course she shouldn't, but she knew she did to some extent, and two of them were unconscious. She shuddered at the memory of the message she had received.

"…_their hearts are barely beating…"_

Her pace quickened as she hurried towards the last corner before her final destination. Only a few of the portraits stirred as she passed them, her wand light having moved passed them before it burned into their eyelids and woke them up.

She turned the final corner and saw two open doors on opposite sides of the corridor.

She broke into a run and then sharply halted in the middle of the corridor, frantically searching through the darkness to find Tonks.

'Nymphadora!' she shrieked.

'In here!' Tonks shouted from the door on her right.

McGonagal entered the classroom and lit the rest of the torches on the wall, it having not entered Tonks' mind to do the ones on the other side of the classroom.

'What happened!' McGonagal whispered, through shock.

'I don't know! I just found them on the map and they were in these rooms,' she waved her hand in the general direction of the classroom on the other side of the corridor. 'There's no signs of hexes or curses and they're not injured in any physical way I can see! I just don't know!'

Her voice had become higher and more frantic as she had continued and her breathing was ragged as her panic started to come to the surface.

'There's _no_ sign of injury, _at all!_' McGonagal asked, shocked, her mind still presuming dark wizards had physically attacked them. It was a hard state of mind to snap out of.

'No! None! It was all so…_clean!_ Like they had walked in here voluntarily!'

'But they can't—'

All thoughts that this had been an outside attack vanished from McGonagall's brain and the enormity of the situation overwhelmed her. She didn't know why they were in separate rooms whether they did it voluntarily to test their connection, which she didn't think was at all feasible. Hermione Granger may have been naïve with her intelligence on occasion, but she was not foolish.

'We have to get them together, now!' McGonagal said sharply.

Tonks stared at her. 'What?'

'In the same room. Now!'

Tonks didn't think to argue against her old transfiguration teacher and started moving desks out of the way of the exit so McGonagal could levitate Ron out of the room safely. She didn't understand what was going on, or why McGonagall was so insistent they be moved to the same room, but then again, none of this situation seemed to fit.

Tonks did the same in the room Hermione was in as she had done previously, and moved the desks out of the way so Ron could be put on the floor next to Hermione.

When McGonagall had carefully put him on the floor she turned to Tonks.

'Have you tried any resuscitation spells on them yet?' she asked.

'Er…yes! I tried all the basic ones and even some of the ones I barely remembered from Auror training but their hearts would just not get any faster. Their heartbeats are dangerously low, Minerva! What's wrong with them?'

McGonagall had lost the colouring in her cheeks acquired from her exertion through the castle and she had to tear her eyes away from the two students and bring her focus back to Tonks.

'We need to get them to Poppy,' she stated simply.

'Should we take them to her or shall I get her here?' Tonks asked.

'Both. You go ahead and alert her that I'm bringing them. You can bring her back and meet me on the way if Poppy so wishes and you can inform her of everything you know.'

'I don't know anything!' Tonks said. 'Just how I found them.'

'You never know, Nymphadora, that might be all that she needs to know.'

Tonks smiled feebly and nodded. She turned and left the room running through the corridors to the hospital wing.

McGonagall turned back to the students lying on the floor, and not sure if she wanted to know the results of the test she was about to perform, waved her wand over the two of them.

A mass of red smoke hovered over the hearts of Ron and Hermione and writhed itself into the shape of the organ it was mirroring. The smoke darkened until it only had the smallest hint of red in it and after what seemed to McGonagall like a lifetime it pulsed. She waited, yet again, for it to pulse and after an alarming amount of time they did again.

McGonagall noticed that they were beating in unison, but this did little to soothe her worry. She waved her wand briskly and the smoke vanished instantly. She conjured stretchers for the two of them and levitated first Hermione and then Ron onto them. Carefully she levitated them out of the door and, as fast as she dared, took them down the corridor towards what she hoped would be their salvation.

…oooOOOooo…

'_They were where?_' Poppy Pomfrey exclaimed as she hurried out the hospital wing doors and locked the doors behind her with a wave of her wand.

'On the first floor corridor in separate rooms, apparently this is a bad thing?' Tonks have said, half asked.

'Very bad!' Madam Pomfrey said through her heavy breaths as she jogged through the castle.

'Er…I take it I've missed something major!' Tonks admitted.

The nurse nodded and took a deep breath.

'Miss Granger and Mister Weasley both swallowed a half made Amortentia potion, which has caused a major side effect in them both.'

She swallowed hard and took another couple of breaths before continuing. Really, this type of exercise was not something she was used to.

'They cannot leave each other's company. If they do they fall unconscious, or suffer excruciating head pain.'

'Oh,' Tonks said quietly.

'How long have they been separated?' Pomfrey demanded.

'Er…'

'Quickly Nymphadora! I need to know everything!'

'I don't know!' Tonks replied, flustered at being scolded like she were a student. 'But considering it's four in the morning I'm guessing it might have been a while!'

Pomfrey knew Tonks hadn't meant to be sharp with her, in the same way she hadn't meant to be short with the younger witch either. Apparently they both reacted to stress in the same way.

'Did you try any spells on them before you came here?' Pomfrey asked in a kinder tone.

Tonks noticed the change. 'I did, I tried everything I could think of, even some of the things I haven't used since Auror training!'

A smile played at her lips but it soon faded.

'And nothing at all worked?'

Tonks shook her head. 'No, nothing. I tried but—' she stopped talking, not really wanting to voice her failure.

'You did your best Nymphadora, that's all that matters.'

This time the smile stayed on Tonks' face for a few seconds. Now she really did feel like a student.

A minute later they met Professor McGonagall coming towards them, the two stretchers carrying Ron and Hermione in front of her. Madam Pomfrey took a position in between the two.

'May I borrow your wand, Nymphadora?' the nurse asked.

'What? Oh, yeah, of course.'

She held out her wand and Madam Pomfrey took it. She set to work, waving a wand over both her patients and moving them both in opposite but exact ways. Tonks' eyes widened as she watched the nurse work.

Once back in the hospital wing and after she had transferred Ron and Hermione onto the beds they had occupied far too often, Madam Pomfrey continued her ministrations.

After five minutes of excruciating silence the nurse stopped her work and stepped back from the bed.

'Poppy?' McGonagall said quietly, finally breaking the silence.

Madam Pomfrey turned and walked solemnly back towards McGonagall and Tonks. She held out Tonks' wand to her and the younger witch took it.

'How are they?' Tonks asked cautiously.

Poppy took a deep breath and looked between the two witches.

'I can't wake them up,' she said simply. 'I've tried everything I know and I can't wake them up. Their hearts are beating faster than they were, they still aren't a normal rate, by far, but still it's an improvement. They've got no physical injuries, but only them waking up will tell us if their slow heartbeats caused a lack of oxygen and…brain damage.'

McGonagall nodded solemnly.

'Do their parents need to be informed?' she asked.

'If there is no improvement by mid morning I would strongly suggest we tell them. But let's give them the night to show us what they're made of.'

She looked at Tonks and mirrored the small smile she had managed.

'Would you mind sending me hourly reports, Poppy?' McGonagall asked.

'Of course not, I shall be making them for my records so I shall send one of the house elves to you with a copy.'

'Thank you. Are you going back on duty, Nymph— Tonks?'

Tonks smiled. 'Yeah, I finish at six.'

'Well make sure you sleep well when you finish!' Madam Pomfrey said sternly, ever the nurse.

'Of course, Poppy,' Tonks said through a chuckle.

McGonagall and Tonks left the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey closed the double doors behind them. She slowly turned and walked back to her two patients.

She waved her wand over them each and the same smoke that McGonagall had conjured earlier in the classroom appeared over their chests and mirrored the actions of their hearts.

Se flicked her wand over her shoulder and a roll of parchment and quill flew their way over to her. She set the parchment down on the cabinet that was standing in between the two beds and brought the tip of her wand to the tip of the quill. She stood it on it's point and waved her wand in a circle around it. Instantly the quill started taking notes, writing numbers and fractions, and the occasional note to accompany them. Madam Pomfrey would consult these notes in an hour when her alarm clock woke her and she would summarise them and, as requested, send a copy to the deputy headmistress.

She sighed, knowing there was nothing more that she could do until morning. The headmaster was out of the castle and she didn't think he would be back until the morning so she could not consult him. She was not totally happy with Ron and Hermione's condition, but she knew there was nothing else anyone could do to help them. With that thought, she turned and walked through her office to her sleeping quarters, setting her alarm before getting into bed and trying to fall asleep.

* * *

**It's a shortish one, I know, but there's a natural break. It shouldn't be too long before the next one's up.  
Please be so kind and review, I'd be well happy if a certain number was reached! ;)**

**Step ;)**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Harry opened his eyes and blinked. He sat up and rubbed his face as he reached for his glasses. He looked around him and eventually found the alarm clock next to him. It read twenty to nine.

'Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me!'

He threw his covers off him and flew into the bathroom, bouncing off the doorframe and into the small room. In two minutes he had flown back out and started pulling on his school robes on haphazardly.

'Bloody brilliant way to start the week, Potter!' he growled to himself.

When he was just about dressed he hurtled out of the dormitory and took the stairs three at a time. He skidded to a halt in front of the portrait hole and realised he had none of his books with him. Knowing he wouldn't have time to come back up after his breakfast he swore loudly and hurtled back up the stairs and into his room.

Miraculously, the night before he had already got his things ready for his day's lessons, but as he took a quick glimpse into his bag he noticed his potions book was missing, having fallen asleep reading it last night. He frantically looked around his unmade bed and his eyes finally fell upon the open book on the floor. He bent down and stuffed the book into his bag. He looked into one of the side pockets to make sure the Marauders map was still safely in place and felt the familiar lurch in his stomach he often felt when he wanted to look at the map, but couldn't. He stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder and for the second time that morning sprinted down the stairs.

He turned left into the great hall, still at a run and bumped hard into someone.

'Oof!'

'S…sorry,' the voice that belonged to the other person said hurriedly.

Harry looked up having recognised the voice.

'Ginny! Sorry about that, I got up late!'

'Harry! Oh! Have you seen Ron? Have you seen my parents?'

'I…what?' Harry's brow furrowed as he tried to grasp at why Mr and Mrs Weasley would be at Hogwarts. 'Your parents?'

'Yes! Colin just said he saw them upstairs with McGonagall!'

'What?'

'So have you seen Ron or Hermione this morning?'

'No! I've only just come downstairs…hang on,' he opened his bag with one hand and pulled Ginny out of the view of the students of the hall at the same time. As he left he caught sight of the Slytherin table and his stomach twisted when he saw Malfoy looking directly at them, the ugliest smirk on his face. He pulled out the Marauders map from his bag and hurriedly (and quietly) muttered the sentence that would show the school to him.

Ginny's brow furrowed before she realised what the piece of parchment was, and what it was telling her.

Both of them searched for the names of any other Weasley than Ginny. Pessimistically, they both looked to the hospital wing, and both of them gasped when they read the names in there. Surrounding Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were Charles Granger, Veronica Granger, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, Albus Dumbledore and Poppy Pomfrey.

'Oh no!' Ginny whispered. 'This isn't good!'

Harry and Ginny's eyes met and they both spun round at the same time, only to take a step forward straight into Professor McGonagall.

'There you are Potter, Miss Weasley,' McGonagall said. 'I'm afraid I have some rather alarming news.'

'Why are my parents here and why are Ron and Hermione in the hospital wing?' Ginny demanded.

Normally that type of tone would have deserved a scolding from McGonagall, but she understood Ginny's panic.

'Follow me, I shall explain on the way, you are both excused from your morning lesson!'

Harry and Ginny hurried after the deputy headmistress.

'Auror Tonks found Miss Granger and Mister Weasley unconscious in separate classrooms at around four o clock this morning.'

'No! But they…' Ginny started, before fading off into her own frantic thoughts.

'As yet, neither of them have woken up. They don't seem to be getting any worse, but, needless to say, we are concerned about their condition, that is why both your parents,' she looked over her shoulder at Ginny, 'and Miss Granger's were called to the castle half an hour ago.'

Ginny sniffed quietly and Harry tried to give her an encouraging look, but she wouldn't look at anything other than the floor.

'Do you know why they won't wake up?' Harry asked.

McGonagall didn't answer at once. Before she did she took a deep breath. Harry didn't like what that insinuated.

'All we can deduce from their previous episodes is that they have woken up after a period of time relative to the time they were separated for. We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that they were separated for a long period of time, and that is why they haven't woken up yet.'

They had reached the doors to the hospital wing. McGonagall turned around and faced the two students.

'There is something else though. I will say before I tell you that I have been asked to tell you this by both the Grangers and your parents, Ginevra, they are hoping you might be able to help both Hermione and Ron at this time.'

Harry noticed the use of Ron and Hermione's first names, and wasn't comforted by his revelation.

'Their hearts were barely beating when they were found. I have never been so scared for the health of two of my students as I was when I performed the diagnosis spell on them last night, but their condition has improved since they have been put in the same room. We can only hope that they continue to improve over time. I tell you this and do not sugar coat their condition to show you how important it is that we get _any_ information about what happened to them last night. I'll leave you for a few minutes to think of anything that may help and then we shall see about you visiting your friends and brother.'

Both Harry and Ginny nodded in understanding and watched as McGonagall disappeared through the hospital wing doors.

Harry looked at Ginny and realised tears had escaped her eyes.

'Hey, come here,' he said quietly, and she didn't resist as he pulled her into a hug. 'They'll be okay, they're together now and they'll help each other heal like they did last time.'

He felt Ginny nod in agreement against his chest, but despite of her actions she continued to cry and shake in Harry's arms.

Harry closed his eyes and a wash of guilt overcame him. It was, after all, his potion that had caused all of this to happen. The scene of the classroom on that day in January filled his mind, he saw the shocked faces of the Ravenclaws and the looks of shear glee on the Slytherins—

'Malfoy!' he said harshly, causing Ginny to jump away from him.

'What?' she asked shakily.

'He knows!' Harry replied, his voice getting louder. 'He was smirking at me when you found me, like he knew exactly what was going on! I'll put good money on him being involved in this in some way.'

'Okay,' Ginny said weakly.

'Okay?' Harry asked, slightly surprised. 'You believe me?'

He was so used to Ron and Hermione shouting down any thoughts of Malfoy being up to something that he was surprised when Ginny listened to his thoughts.

'Yes, if you say you think he has something to do with…this…then I believe you. Just tell McGonagall.'

'I will.'

He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. It was then that another revelation came to him. If only he had looked at the Marauders map last night, he would have seen them and stopped this before the situation became this serious. His stomach squirmed with the huge amount of guilt that he was feeling, and he was about to sit down on the floor, when the doors to the hospital wing opened and McGonagall appeared at them.

'You may both come in now.'

…oooOOOooo…

Arthur Weasley heard the hurried footsteps of his daughter before he saw her. He watched as she ran around Ron's bed to the head end and noticed she didn't acknowledge him or her mother until she had seen her brother with her own eyes.

After a few seconds she lifted her eyes and looked at him. Tears fell down her face and she crumpled into the seat next to the bed.

Arthur untangled himself from Molly and walked so he was stood next to Ginny. He slowly stroked her hair and she stood up and hugged him.

'Stupid git!' she shouted as she sobbed into his chest.

Despite the circumstances, Arthur smiled.

'His is rather, isn't he!' he said with a smile.

Ginny pulled back from him and managed a watery smile, but her face almost instantly went back to concerned.

'Is he going to be alright, dad?' she asked him quietly.

Arthur looked down at his youngest son and then over at Hermione.

'Well, I think they'll take care of each other, wherever they are. They helped each other last time; no doubt they'll do the same again.'

Ginny gave the smallest of nods.

Arthur looked around the hospital wing. Molly was talking to Hermione's mother, both resisting the tears that threatened to fall, Charles was sitting, stony faced next to Hermione's bed, and Harry was talking to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

Ginny started to cry again and he held her tightly to him, her quiet crying was matched by her mother's.

Arthur decided that they needed a break from the hospital wing.

'How about we take your mum and Mrs. Granger somewhere where they can have a stiff drink, eh?'

Arthur watched as Ginny looked at her mum and Mrs. Granger. She turned back to her brother and Arthur knew she wanted to stay with him.

'He'll still be here when we get back, you know how lazy he is!'

Ginny chuckled quietly and nodded her head in agreement. She followed her father and waited quietly as he persuaded the two mothers to take a break from possibly the most depressing part of the castle. Eventually he worked his charm and they all turned and walked away from the two beds.

Arthur walked over to Charles and put a hand on his shoulder.

'Charles, do you want to get a drink and some air?' he asked kindly.

Charles came out of his thoughts and turned to face Arthur. He just about managed a half smile.

'Er, no thank you Arthur, I'll stay here.'

'Well, if you're sure, I can bring you a drink back if you want?'

'No, really, I'm fine. Thank you for asking though.'

'Okay, well, come and join us if you want.'

Charles nodded and turned back to Hermione.

Arthur sighed and hurried to catch up with Ginny, Molly and Veronica. As he got to the door and held it open for them, he took one last look over at Charles. His head was in his hands and Arthur thought he saw his shoulders shaking. He thought about going back to him, but then decided against it, realising Charles probably wanted to do his crying alone.

He was exactly the same.

…oooOOOooo…

Someone had hurt her. Someone had seriously endangered the life of his only child but he didn't know whom. Despite his seemingly calm appearance, Charles Granger was livid.

He had managed to suppress the hurt and pain that had tried to rear it's ugly head ten minutes earlier and he was trying to work this whole situation out logically, the same way he had taught Hermione years earlier.

'_But Dad, how can you be sure? We're not told everything we need!'_

_Charles smiled down at his nine-year-old daughter who was sat on the floor, cross-legged at his feet; a puzzle book in is her left hand and a pencil in her right_

'_What _are_ you told?'_

'_Well, we're told-'_

'_Ah ah!' he said cutting her off. 'You don't need to tell me, you need to tell yourself, Hermione. Write the information down you are certain of, and when you work something out that can't possibly be wrong, have that as your starting point. Build the other information around that until you can work out the things you're not told.'_

_Hermione's brow furrowed, still unsure of how she was supposed to work out the information that the puzzle didn't tell her._

'_You can do it Hermione! Just read it through as many times as you need.'_

_So she did. He watched as she jotted down the occasional note, wrote the occasional sentence and then crossed out her previous jottings, obviously not needing that piece of information anymore._

_Five minutes later and she had looked up at him with a look of utmost glee on her face._

'_I did it!' she exclaimed jumping onto the sofa next to her dad._

'_See!' he said pulling her into his side and looking at the puzzle book she had thrust into his hand. 'I told you, you could do it! You just have to take your time and read things through, more than once if you need to.'_

_Hermione beamed at her dad and he handed the book back to her and she had turned the page to start on the next one._

'_Oh, it's a dot-to-dot! They're for children!' Hermione said, her voice full of disdain for the 'child's' puzzle._

_Charles inwardly laughed at his 'too old for children's puzzles' child._

'_I bet I can do it faster than you!' Charles said with a grin on his face._

_Hermione turned to face him and a he could see her need to prove herself beating down her dislike for the simple puzzle._

'_But we can't do the same puzzle! The pencil will leave marks in the paper even if we rub out the lines, so the person who does it second will find it easier, unless…'_

_Charles waited for Hermione to voice her thoughts._

'_I know! We can do half each. I'll do numbers one to fifty and you can see how long it takes me and then you can do fifty-one to a hundred and I can time you!'_

_Charles beamed at his daughter._

'_A perfect solution, Hermione. Just perfect.'_

'Just perfect,' he muttered.

His thoughts returned to the present day and he tried to do what he had told his daughter to do all those years ago.

He really wished he had a pen.

He had dismissed the idea of her testing the strength of their connection, it just didn't fit. His daughter may have been headstrong and it was the hardest thing in the world to dissuade her to do something she was sure would work or help, but she wouldn't have done this.

Too many things didn't sit right with him, the main one being he was sitting next to his seventeen-year-old daughter in a hospital wing with potions, wands and what not surrounding him. This shouldn't be happening.

'Oh Hermione,' he said through a sigh. 'When did I stop being able to stop you hurting with a hug and a tickle?'

He had barely spoken to anyone since they had arrived at the school, merely nodding at the correct times when the headmaster and deputy headmistress had told them what had been going on over the past few weeks. He had been taken aback when he had found out that this wasn't the first time his only daughter had ended up in the hospital wing of the school. As far as he and her mother knew the side effect of whatever they had swallowed were minor and only disrupting their normal school life minimally. The fact that she and Ron now had to share a room had somehow managed to slip his daughter's mind when corresponding with them, but in all fairness, nothing else could be done. They fell unconscious when they were separated; so being together for every minute of every day it had to be. He trusted his daughter and her judgement and he was sure she had behaved properly.

He shifted in his seat so he was leaning forward towards the bed. He reached over and took her hand in his, still very unhappy about the paleness of her skin. She didn't have that much colour to her skin anyway, never mind when she was 'ill'.

'Who did this to you, Hermione?' he whispered to her.' Wake up and tell me who did this to you.'

He closed his eyes.

'Please, Hermione, wake up.'

His voice cracked on his last word and he stood up abruptly, still hold of her hand. He placed it back on the bed and then walked to the window on the other side of the bed. He gazed out over the grounds and his eyes fell on the three tall hoops in the grounds of the castle.

_So they're the Quidditch hoops_, he thought to himself. A small smile crept onto his face. He loved Hermione, more than anything in the world, but he would have liked his only daughter to take an interest in sport, _any_ sport, but alas, it wasn't to be.

He was interested in the way the hoops looked, all different heights and so high off the ground.

_Not that that's a problem when you're on a broomstick, I suppose!_

He turned and walked back to the chair he had been sat on since he had arrived at the hospital. Even when Professor Dumbledore was explaining the situation to him he had sat in the chair, never taking his eyes off his daughter's still form.

It was the second time he had been to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it was four years since the first time he had been.

He wasn't exactly sure how to react when he had been told that his daughter had been petrified. He instantly thought that any 'side effects' would be having nightmares or the such like, but she would get over them eventually.

Apparently not.

No, petrification in the Wizarding world was something entirely different. It meant you turned into a statue and didn't move.

He had visited Hermione in the hospital wing but he didn't see his daughter when he saw her petrified form. He saw someone who looked like her, had her out of control hair, had her pale skin, but it wasn't Hermione.

Looking back he could see he was in denial. He was told that in a very short time the right potion would be able to be made, _brewed_, that would revive her and she would be back to his Hermione.

Once again he leaned forward towards the bed, and closed his eyes.

'Find the logical way out Hermione, just find the logical way out.'

…oooOOOooo…

Arthur had made his excuses from his wife, daughter and Mrs. Granger. He knew that Charles was upset and he didn't like the idea of him being angry and on his own in a place he was unfamiliar with.

He knew Charles was angry because_ he_ was. Someone had purposely harmed his son and it made his stomach squirm with rage. However, he knew now was not the time, and the hospital wasn't the place to vent his anger. He'd have plenty of opportunity to do that at home.

He walked through the doors to the hospital wing and quietly shut the door behind him. He slowly walked over to Hermione's bed and sat down in the chair Ginny had fallen in to earlier. He cleared his throat and Charles looked up at him.

'Oh, Arthur, I didn't hear you come in.'

'It's a habit I'm afraid, every time I come in here I feel like I should be quiet.'

'Every time? That doesn't sound good.'

Arthur smiled. 'Well with seven children you've got to expect that they'll end up in here at one time or another. But this is only the second time I've felt…' he sighed, trying to find the right word, 'well, really worried about the Weasley in here.'

'I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life.' Charles said in a hurry. 'She's…she's my little girl, Arthur! On the day she was born I told her I'd protect her, but I haven't!' His voiced had cracked and he had hastily looked at the floor. 'But I don't need to tell you this,' he continued, 'I suspect you feel the same about Ron.'

Arthur nodded his head. 'Don't get me wrong Charles, I love all my children equally, I'd be equally upset if any of them were in the same situation as Ron is, but, well, Ron's the youngest of my sons and he hates hearing it, but he's my baby boy, always will be.'

He took a deep breath before continuing.

'And then there's Ginny, she's the first female Weasley to be born in generations. I'd told all the other kids that there'd be another Weasley son arriving and then she arrived, bawling at the top of her lungs telling the world she was there. She's my only daughter and I'll feel the need to protect her until the day I die, however much she hates it. When she was in here and she was telling me what she had been made to do, I felt so guilty. But of course you know about that too, Hermione was petrified, wasn't she?'

Charles nodded his head. 'She was, but I don't think that whole situation sank in really. I looked at her lying on the bed, but I didn't see my little girl, it wasn't Hermione Jane Granger on that bed, it was someone who looked like her, who was pretending to be her. It just wasn't Hermione. Denial's a wonderful thing sometimes!'

Arthur managed a weak chuckle. 'It really is.'

'Do we know anything else about this?' Charles asked, vaguely waving his hand, gesturing to the two beds.

'No,' Arthur replied quietly, 'nothing new. Harry has his suspicions about who is behind all this but—'

'Who?' Charles said, his eyes suddenly alert.

Arthur didn't really like the idea of telling Charles who Harry thought might have something to do with this whole thing. But he knew he'd want to know so he decided to tell him.

'One of the other students, they're not exactly friends.'

'It was that, what's his name, _Malfoy_, wasn't it? He's always bullied Hermione since the day he found she was, she was, muggle born!'

Arthur was ready to stop Charles storming out the hospital wing if he decided that was what he wanted to do, but after a few seconds it became apparent he wasn't going to.

'Hermione's a strong girl, Charles, from what Ron's told me, and what I've seen, she can give as good as she gets, and not all of us share the same views as the Malfoys. You and Hermione will always be welcome at the Burrow, any time. I'm just sorry it's taken something like this for me to be able to extend the invitation to you.'

Charles looked directly at Arthur and slowly nodded his head.

'Thank you Arthur, I appreciate everything you've done for Hermione. You've let her stay with you and you've made her feel welcome, more than that, from what she's told me, you've treated her like a daughter, and I can't thank you enough for that.'

'You're more than welcome, Charles.'

A comfortable silence fell between the two of them. After a few seconds Charles raised his head and tried to catch a glimpse of the Quidditch hoops at the far end of the pitch.

'Were you a Quidditch player Arthur?'

Arthur smiled broadly. 'No, well, not really, I wasn't in the school teams, in all honesty I have no idea where my sons, and Ginny for that matter, get their passion for it from.'

Charles managed a wry smile. 'It seems we have the opposite problem, I played a lot of football in my youth, but Hermione has never really found the passion for sport, apparently it's far more important to learn another fact about the world than it is kicking a football around a pitch!'

Arthur chuckled. 'That's why they balance each other out so well.'

'These two?' Charles replied, already knowing he was right in his reference to Hermione and Ron. He chuckled. 'So you've noticed it too have you?'

'I think the only people who haven't realised it are Ron and Hermione!'

'It has to be said, Arthur, I have never had a full blown conversation with Ron, but with everything Hermione's told me about him, not that she ever admitted anything to her old dad, I feel like I know him!'

'Oh I think I knew more about Hermione than Ron realised before she actually came to stay with us. He doesn't realise he's doing it sometimes!'

Both Charles and Arthur sat for a few minutes, remembering conversations they'd had with Hermione and Ron and slowly their thoughts were brought back to their currant situation.

'They will help each other, won't they Arthur?' Charles asked, the sadness back in his eyes.

'If Ron can help Hermione in any way, I know he will, and I think I'm right in saying Hermione will do the same too. They'll come through this, Charles, they will.'

Charles nodded. 'They will,' he repeated quietly.

He looked at Hermione's face once more and sighed.

'_They have to._'


	23. Chapter 23

**Okay, I sigh in relief at getting this out. It's been a long time in coming in more ways than one, and I'm pretty happy with the result :D  
I need to say a huuuuuuuuuuge thank you for taking my review count over 300. I did say thanks in the last chapter, but apparently I didn't save the author's note I wrote before uploading the chapter (headdesk) All your reviews make me very happy and I appreciate every one of them.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 23

Everything was blue.

Actually, what was everything?

Was there anything there?

It was all around her and she couldn't see a way out of it.

Not that she really wanted to find a way out of it. It was nice here.

It was peaceful.

…oooOOOooo…

Everything was orange.

He liked that it was orange; it was a good colour, orange.

It was swirling a little, changing to brown and then to nearly white, but always back to a nice strong orange.

Yes, he liked it here.

Orange was a good colour.

…oooOOOooo…

The blue was changing now. There were other colours coming in, greens, and browns, and then there'd be a dash of white.

She liked how it was moving, the pretty colours were calming and she liked how they swirled around her. It was like they were protecting her from something, or just being a comfort to her, whatever they were doing she liked it.

The colours started to fade away and then there was blackness again. This kept happening, but she was used to it know, she expected it to happen.

…oooOOOooo…

The blackness faded and the orange was gone. Instead there was blue and there was green. Blue above him and green below him. He was sad there wasn't orange anymore, but he didn't mind the blue and green, it was just different.

He rolled over and saw that the two colours met, but he knew that it was a long way away; he'd have to walk for a long time to get there. Not that he'd walk, there'd be another thing he'd use. He couldn't remember what it was, but he knew he liked doing it.

Yes, he could live with these colours, he liked them.

…oooOOOooo…

It was warm.

When she looked around her she noticed the colours had stopped swirling and they were now constant. Above her was blue and beneath her feet was green.

Because she was standing now, that she knew. It felt like she was standing, although she didn't have any idea on what she was sanding or where she was standing. She turned and looked all around her. She stopped when she thought she had seen something. It wasn't anything she recognised, she wasn't sure if there was anything there at all. There was just something about the spot quite a way in front of her that intrigued her. Without even knowing what it was she knew it was familiar. She took a few steps towards it before feeling a little smothered by the feeling of the familiarity. She'd been close to whatever it was for a long time now, and she just wanted a bit of time on her own.

She turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

…oooOOOooo…

He wasn't sure if he was pleased or upset that the shape he half recognised was walking away from him. It definitely had a shape now, for a while it was just a blur, and there was no form there at all.

He knew that he knew what it was, but he couldn't think of it at the minute, it would come to him though.

He stood up and moved in parallel with the thing he knew – would know when he remembered. He looked around him, there were still the two colours, and he knew the blue was the sky and the green was grass. He couldn't really feel the grass yet but he knew it was there.

He decided he knew quite a few things, but he'd like to know a few more.

…oooOOOooo…

She smiled to herself when the person started walking alongside her, still quite a way from her but still, near enough for her to feel safe because they were there. She knew that the person protected her and had been doing for a long time. She liked that.

She looked around her and noticed another shape. This one was different to the other one though, this one wasn't a person. The top of it was green and was moving slightly against the breeze she could feel against her skin. The bottom half was brown and thinner than the green bit. She decided she liked it and moved over to it.

She looked over at the person who was walking parallel to her and she smiled when she saw they were walking over to this new shape too. They would look at it together.

Yes, together was good.

…oooOOOooo…

It was a tree, an oak tree if he wasn't mistaken and it was old, very old, hundreds of years old, and it looked as healthy as he imagined a tree could look. He continued to walk over to it and he knew without looking that the other person was doing the same thing. He carried on walking until he was only a foot from the tree, the other person was on the other side, and he knew she – it was definitely a she – was doing the same.

He studied the bark on the trunk and saw markings and dents in it. He trailed his finger around one of the shapes that had been engraved in it. The markings became clearer and he could see more markings inside the shape appearing. These were different to the shape he was covering with his finger, they weren't continuous marks, they were pointy and there were a few lines in each one, crossing over each other to make smaller shapes whilst still making a big shape together.

He looked at them, but he didn't know what the smaller marking meant. He took half a step back and looked at the overall effect of the various marks together. He smiled, half understanding what the composition meant, knowing that it was a good thing, whatever it was.

…oooOOOooo…

There were five of them that she could see clearly. She had traced her fingers over them when her eyes had found them and it was those five that held her attention.

They were roughly carved hearts and she knew that the smaller shapes inside were runes, no, not runes, letters. Yes, they were letters.

The two at the top were the least bright of the five, but still vivid in the way they stood out from the dark colour of the bark. She spoke the letters quietly, and heard the boy, _man_, on the other side do the same.

'A – W, M – P.'

The letters seemed to glow as she said them out loud, as if reassuring her that they were familiar. She looked at the heart to the right of that one and again said the letters out loud.

'C – G, V – B.'

Again the letters glowed and she smiled as the eight letters made her feel comforted.

…oooOOOooo…

He reached a bit further down the tree and touched the letters of the third heart.

'W – W, F – D.'

The letters glowed but in a different way to the other sets. The colour was different. Initially he thought they looked brighter, but on second look he knew that was wrong, it wasn't brighter it looked…_newer_, less established, but still strong.

His eyes fell to the two remaining hearts nearer the bottom of the tree and he knelt down in front of it. He squinted at the barely formed letters, trying to see the letters as a whole.

He carefully traced the first letter in the heart on the left hand side.

'H?' he asked in a whisper.

The letter glowed but then faded.

'P?' he again asked, not entirely sure of his thoughts.

The second letter behaved like the first, glowing and then fading.

'H – P, G – W,' he stated simply, surprising himself by the sounds that came out of his mouth. The faint letters underneath the first two glowed and then faded, confirming what he had said.

His brow furrowed as he looked at the letters. They weren't really glowing like the others, they were just there. He didn't know why they weren't the same as the others but he understood that they shouldn't be.

Not yet anyway.

…oooOOOooo…

The final heart was taking all of her attention now, not that she could really see the letters, but she couldn't take her eyes off the space encompassed by the roughly carved shape.

She reached her arm forward and placed her hand on the heart.

She gasped as she was overwhelmed with emotion: loving, wanting, needing, frustration, anger and confusion and then the contented feeling that came with knowing she was loved.

She opened her eyes and found sounds spilling out of her mouth.

'R – W, H – G.'

She had said them loudly and had heard him say them too.

The emotions subsided within her and she removed her hand from the trunk. She stood up, shaking a little and glanced down at her and his initials in the heart. Because she knew they were hers and his now, and she knew why they were glowing. Not brilliantly, but still, enough to make them stand out. Tentatively she stepped around the tree and saw him do the same. She stopped when she was stood in front of him and she smiled, a small amount of that comforting feeling washing over her.

She looked into his blue eyes.

'Ron.'

…oooOOOooo…

'Hermione,' he replied.

It wasn't a question, it was a statement and his tone mirrored hers.

'My protector,' he heard her say.

'My conscience,' he said with a smile.

He looked around him to see if anything had changed in the time he had been studying the tree. He didn't notice anything new.

'Where are we?' he asked.

'I don't know,' she replied, 'but I like it here.'

He nodded. 'Me too. I think I've been here before.'

'I think so too.'

'I like it here.'

'I do too. I feel safe here.'

He nodded his head again.

He really did feel safe here.

…oooOOOooo…

'Ron,' she said again.

'Hermione,' he replied.

'We've been here before.'

'More than once, I think.'

'But we don't belong here, do we?'

'No, we don't. It's only when we need to get better that we do.'

She wasn't sure how she knew he was right, but she did.

'So, do we need to get better then?'

'Er…'

'I suppose it would be logical. We're here so we need to get better.'

'But from what?'

She shrugged.

'Do you want to sit?' he asked her.

'Yeah okay.'

She sat down opposite him and they held each other's gaze for a few seconds before reaching her right hand forward. She watched as he did the same with his left and she grasped his hand, entwining her fingers with this.

Her mind was filled with images. She saw herself standing in front of him and watched as he leaned over her and kissed her. She couldn't help but smile, and then the image disappeared from her mind.

She looked into his eyes and knew he had just seen the same things she had.

'Maybe that's how we get better.'

…oooOOOooo…

'It might be,' he replied simply. 'Maybe that's how we share our pain and makes us better quicker.'

He watched her brow furrow in concentration.

'No, we do something else to make ourselves better, don't we?'

He saw her inch forward and he felt himself feel compelled to move forwards to wards her.

'Foreheads,' he said simply. 'We touch foreheads and it takes the pain away.'

Her brow furrowed again. 'But we're not in pain.'

'No I know,' he replied. 'But we're here because of _something_. Maybe it'll help. Do you want to try it?'

'Okay.'

He shuffled forwards until their knees were touching and then leaned in towards her. He closed his eyes as thoughts and feelings crashed into his mind.

He remembered things, things outside of the place he was in now; anger at himself, frustration at a situation he had been put in, embarrassment at things he'd said and done and then just a comforting warmth.

Then there was the pain.

He couldn't feel it, but he knew he had done. Something had happened to him and her, and this was why they were here now.

His grip on her hand intensified and he reached out, still with his eyes closed, and grasped her other hand tightly.

All At once everything became clear.

…oooOOOooo…

'Ron!' Hermione exclaimed. 'What's going on?'

'Bloody hell, Hermione, clam down! Your heart's racing!'

'How the hell do you know?'

'Really? You're asking me that question after everything we've been through and are apparently going through now?'

Hermione looked into his blue eyes and managed to calm down a little.

'Sorry,' she said, her tone still tense. 'Do you have any idea what's happening?'

'I dunno! We're where we go in our dreams, that means – I think – that we're unconscious! Doesn't it?'

Hermione's panic rose inside of her and Ron tensed as he felt her emotions flood him.

She pulled away from him, breaking the contact they had had between their foreheads. They both tensed up, waiting to see if this would bring on any pain or any other unwanted afflictions. After a few seconds they dared to hope that they weren't going to have any.

'Ron, this isn't the same as the other times we've been here. We're talking like we would if we were awake for one thing, and for another we we're _dreaming_! As much as I'd love this to be a complex and elaborate dream, I really don't think it is. We have to find out a way of getting out of here, or…waking ourselves up or…_something!_'

'We could always kiss,' Ron mumbled so his lips only barely moved. 'That seemed to wake us up in the past.'

'What?' Hermione snapped.

Ron turned and stood up, rubbing his face with his hand.

'Ron! Don't ignore me!' Hermione said as she stood up herself and took the few paces that separated them.

'Ignore you!' Ron screeched. 'I've been sharing everything with you for the past God knows how long, and you accuse me of ignoring you whilst we're inside each others heads or _wherever the hell we are!_'

'_Then tell me what the hell you just said then!'_

'I said—'

He stopped abruptly when he noticed something over Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione went to prompt him but noticed something behind Ron too. She looked around and noticed shapes were appearing. They were blurred, but she still recognised them. Her brow furrowed as she tried to place where she had seen them.

'Why has our outdoors place just suddenly merged with the hospital wing?' Ron asked at the same time Hermione realised where she had seen the various pieces of furniture now surrounding them.

'It's not solid though, we're still not there yet. Anyway, why are you avoiding telling me what you said?'

'Because you know what I said, you just want me to say it again!'

'Why do you not want to say it again? Is the prospect of kissing me too awful for you to contemplate?' Hermione shouted at him. She couldn't help it, for weeks she had felt unbelievably frustrated and confused as to why he had gone off with Lavender. She was ready to vent her anger.

'No!' Ron shouted back at her in equal measure. He turned and walked around the bed that had appeared on his left. Hermione followed him. 'How can you think that after everything that's happened? As much as we've been trying to ignore it and not let each other see how we're feeling, surely you haven't been ignoring it yourself, Hermione?'

'Of course I haven't!' she argued, her anger coming to the surface.

'Then why say that then? And why haven't you said anything to me?'

'Why haven't you said anything to _me_? Communication works both ways, Ron! And, for your information, I didn't say anything because the last time I did you went off and snogged Lavender Brown! My track record of asking you out is hardly brimming with success is it?'

'I… You… I didn't…' he swallowed hard, trying to keep his frustration under control.

He rocked forward and backwards, fighting with himself whether or not to go to Hermione.

'Look!' he said, the frustration coming through in his tone. 'This isn't helping us get out of here. How about we put our minds to sorting our little problem out first and then we can go back to being at each other's throats!'

'_Fine!_' Hermione screeched. '_What do you suggest?_'

He knew she was trying to get him to say what he had said earlier. He realised he had no choice. It _was_ the most logical answer.

'The only thing that has woken us up from this before is us kissing,' he said through gritted teeth, still annoyed with Hermione for making him say what she knew he had already said. 'How about we try that?'

He had managed to pull off a fake cheerful tone throughout his question and the smile on his face matched the sentiment.

'No!' Hermione said, her eyes burning with anger.

'No?' Ron replied, his confusion apparent.

'No!' Hermione stated again.

'Why not?'

Hermione took a deep breath and looked Ron directly in the eye.

'Because, Ron, I… I don't want this to happen this way.'

'What way?' Ron asked, still obviously confused.

'_This_ way!' Hermione replied, annoyed at his lack of comprehension.

'But…it'll be the same way as the other two times!'

'No it won't!' Hermione snapped. 'The other two times we were asleep and dreaming, as much as we aren't technically conscious now, we are in full control of what we're doing, therefore we are, on some level conscious, this…' she swallowed and her eyes dropped to the floor, 'this will be the first time we do it voluntarily.'

Ron's eyes widened in understanding but then his brow furrowed.

'But it's the only way to get us out of here Hermione, we have to do it! We won't wake up otherwise!'

Hermione's blush from her earlier statement darkened, this time through anger.

'It's no big deal,' Ron continued.

'No big deal?' she asked, her jaw clenched.

'No big deal!' Ron replied not noticing Hermione's anger.

Hermione closed her eyes as a surge of anger flew through her.

'Bloody hell, Hermione!' Ron shouted.

Her eyes flew open at his words.

'What the hell was that?' he said, his voice still loud.

'What was what?' she asked, even though she had a feeling she had just performed some sort of uncontrolled magic.

Ron stepped forward and looked at her.

'I know you're angry, Hermione, but if you tell me what to say or do I'll do it to get us out of here! Tell me to kiss you and I will, we _need_ to get out of here!'

'No, Ron!' she shouted, shocking herself at how loud she was shouting. 'I won't tell you to kiss me! I don't want you to kiss me just because you think it'll get is out of here! _I want you to kiss me because it's what you really want to do!'_

Suddenly everything became clear around them. The colours of their unconsciousness disappeared and the hospital wing was all that surrounded them.

Neither of them noticed though, they only had eyes for the other.

'Fine!' Ron said, taking a step closer to Hermione. 'Just for your notes, Hermione Granger, I am kissing you because I want to, not because I have to, okay?'

He stepped forward and clumsily walked into her, grabbing her shoulders to steady her before he brought his lips down on hers. He kissed her for a few seconds before she responded in kind. It wasn't gentle, their frustration at each other made that impossible.

Hermione's hands went into his hair, trying to pull him closer to her. His mouth opened in shock and he was even more shocked to feel Hermione's tongue exploring his mouth. He did the same and their kiss became fiercer. Lips bruised, teeth clashed and their tongues squashed together.

They felt something inside their chests, a feeling that if they were to stop, they'd regret it. It built as they kissed and it began to overwhelm them. They screwed up their eyes as the feeling started to consume every cell in their bodies, the sensation becoming almost unbearable.

They wrenched their eyes open, and stared into the others, trying to find understanding in them before they were ripped apart.

They both fell backwards, blackness consuming their vision as they fell. Neither of them noticed when they landed heavily on the hospital wing floor, and neither of them thought anymore on what had just happened as they slipped, once again, into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Hokey coke, so if you could, yet again, let me know what you think about this one it would be hugely appreciated. I hope the PoV switched didn't annoy people, but I thought it was a good way of doing it.**

**Anyhoo... til next time ;)**


	24. Chapter 24

Well, what can I say? I love you all! You all reviewed your arses off and made me VERY happy. :D  
Some people have asked how many more chapters there are, well there's this one, definitely one more and then the epilogue, but, you know me, might go over!

At the end of this one I have a feeling there's going to be a love/hate situation. Either you'll love the twist or hate me for doing it!

Enjoy!

And thanks loads again :D

* * *

Chapter 24

Harry blinked repeatedly for a few seconds before turning to Ginny. She slowly turned her head towards him and their eyes met.

They were glad to see in the other's eyes that they were as confused as they felt themselves.

Both Harry and Ginny came back to themselves when Madam Pomfrey pushed her way between the two of them and after a hasty glance at each other, followed her.

Ginny stopped and fell to her knees next to her brother and Harry knelt down with a little more grace next to Hermione.

'Ron?' Ginny said in a whisper. 'Ron, can you hear me?'

Harry waited for a sound, any sound from Ron but none came. He shook Hermione's shoulder lightly, trying to wake her up.

'Please, Potter, keep her still.'

The nurse's tone wasn't unkind but she was firm in her request. Harry nodded. He watched as Madam Pomfrey's wand moved quickly but quietly over Hermione and then over Ron. A minute later the nurse came over to Harry and looked at him.

'May I please borrow your wand, Harry?'

'Oh, of course, but if you don't mind me asking, why?'

The nurse smiled kindly.

'As silly as this may seem, I dislike performing any of the more fierce diagnosis spells on the two of them unless I do it at the same time given their situation. The same with any reviving spells. To some it may seem silly, but—'

'I don't think it's silly at all!' Harry said determinedly. 'It makes perfect sense.' He held out his wand for the nurse to take.

'Thank you, Harry,' she said as she took the wand.

She stood and concentration filled her face once more.

'Miss Weasley, would you move over to this side please?'

She pointed to the other side of Ron to which Ginny was knelt.

'If you would just move over here Harry,' the nurse asked, pointing to the floor a metre from Ron's side.

Harry did as he was asked and watched as Madam Pomfrey levitated Hermione next to Ron, but with room for herself in the middle of them both. She knelt down between them and she waved her wand and Harry's wand over Ron and Hermione. Various spells washed over them both, settling over their heads and their hearts, changing colour occasionally and then fading completely.

She waved the wands again and Harry watched as the grey smoke hovering and writhing over Ron and Hermione's chests formed into the shape of their hearts. Harry looked at them both, noticing Ron's was slightly larger than Hermione's. They started beating and the smoke turned, to Harry's instant relief, green.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to relax when she had looked at both the forms several times.

'That's good, isn't it?' Ginny asked suddenly.

'Well, it's certainly an improvement, but let's not forget they are still unconscious.

…oooOOOooo…

Harry and Ginny were sat on the floor outside the hospital wing. They had been there for half an hour and were starting to get irritated. Harry was pulled from his thoughts by Ginny standing up and striding up and down the corridor.

'Gin?' he asked.

She stopped and looked around at Harry. Her face was flushed and her eyes bright. Harry was confused.

'Why are they treating us like kids, Harry? As soon as you stopped being useful we were shoved out of here faster than we could blink! We saw…whatever it was we saw but apparently we're too young to discuss the bloody thing, a thing that has had two people we care for in and out of hospital and out cold more times than can possibly be healthy, yet we, apparently, can't _bloody well be cope with it!_'

Harry waited to see if she was going to carry on talking before standing and taking a few steps towards her.

'Gin, it would be the same regardless of where we were. If we were in St. Mungo's it would have been the same. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey are responsible for them, for all of us, they have to decide what to do, it's not for us to interfere with that,' he took another few steps towards her, 'you know that.'

She glanced at him before staring defiantly at the ground. 'Well, if you're going to throw reason at me, I can't argue with you, can I?'

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Harry smiled.

'Look, I can understand why you're angry, Gin, of course I can. But we have to let them get on with things.'

'I know.'

'So, are you going to get angry again or can I sit down?'

Ginny laughed, 'You can sit down and I think I'll join you.'

They leant against the wall and slid down it. Harry sat on the floor but Ginny stopped mid slide. Harry looked up at her, confused.

'That can't be comfortable,' he said with a grin.

'What? Oh,' she slid down the wall and stretched her legs out in front of her. 'I was just thinking, how did you know something was going on? I didn't even think to ask you during the commotion you caused and then, obviously, I got distracted with what happened.'

'Oh, yeah, well I asked Tonks if I could borrow her Auror map…thing Lupin gave her. She's got a couple of days off from both Ministry and Auror work so I asked if I could borrow it. She taught me how to keep it on the hospital wing so I would be able to see if they moved or if their heart rates got any faster. I woke up randomly at four o'clock and couldn't get back to sleep so I just checked it. Their dots were moving the smallest amounts but whatever one did, the other did too and their heartbeats were getting faster so I knew something was happening. That's when I risked life and limb by turning the girl's staircase into a death slide to hopefully get someone's attention. Luckily the head girl came out and after telling me how inappropriate my behaviour was and asking me if I had any idea what time it was I managed to persuade her to get you up.'

Harry took a breath and looked directly at Ginny.

'I hope you realise I am now in every Gryffindor girl's bad books because of you!'

Ginny laughed.

'Then again,' he added, 'their combined wrath is a tiny percentage of what yours would have been had I not done that, so I think I did the right thing!'

He laughed out loud at Ginny's shocked but laughing face and didn't really try to evade the punch to his shoulder he gave him.

'Well, I was going to say thank you for putting yourself in danger with every female Gryffindor but I won't bother now!'

Harry laughed harder.

A minute passed whilst their thoughts returned to the present.

'I mean it though, Harry, thanks for getting me.'

Harry looked at Ginny and smiled, and then tried to ignore the squirming in his stomach that had started when she smiled back at him.

…oooOOOooo…

Harry woke with a start when the double doors opened with a small bang. He hadn't meant to fall fast asleep whilst sat leaning against a wall but he had, and apparently Ginny had too. He was surprised she hadn't woken up when he had, her head balancing on his shoulder, but she was still sound asleep.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore, who was smiling serenely down at him.

'Good morning, Harry.'

'Morning Professor.'

Harry turned his head towards Ginny and shook her lightly.

'Gin. Gin, wake up.'

Ginny stirred and blinked her eyes into focus.

'Oh, sorry, Harry,' she said through a yawn. Her eyes closed as her yawn did all but dislocate her jaw and then her focus fell on Dumbledore. 'Professor!' she exclaimed.

'Good morning, Ginny. I am sorry to wake you both but I'm afraid Madam Pomfrey feels the hospital wing corridor is not the place to sleep.'

'Sorry sir,' Harry said,' but we didn't mean to, we were waiting for news and must have nodded off.'

'Is there any news, Professor?' asked Ginny.

Dumbledore looked at Harry.

'There is no need to apologise, Harry, and yes, Ginny, there is some news.'

'Can you tell us sir? Or not.'

'Both Mr and Mrs Weasley and Mr and Mrs Granger have given their permission for you two to be kept informed of how both Ron and Hermione are, within reason of course. Considering you are both here I shall tell you before I send an owl to your parents, Ginny, and to the Grangers.'

Harry waited for Dumbledore to continue. He could tell Ginny was fighting against her want to prompt the headmaster but luckily Dumbledore didn't keep them waiting.

'You know that their condition has improved greatly. As you know, there have been small improvements over the past three days as we hoped there would be, but now we believe they will wake up when they are ready to. We also believe their connection has been severed. Their hearts are no longer beating in time as they were beforehand.'

'And there's been no other damage?' Ginny asked tentatively.

Dumbledore smiled. 'Obviously we will not know that until they wake up, but from the tests we have performed we have reason to believe they are simply sleeping off their latest ordeal.'

Both Harry and Ginny relaxed slightly.

'I know it's early Professor, but can we see them for a few minutes, then we'll go back to bed, in the right place of course!'

Dumbledore smiled at Harry's comment.

'You may, Harry. Poppy has told me of your help earlier and because of that she has asked me to invite you in, for five minutes.'

Harry and Ginny stood as Dumbledore held the door open for them.

'Thank you, sir,' Harry said as he walked through the open door.

'Thanks Professor,' Ginny added.

'I shall speak to you both later,' Dumbledore replied before letting the door close behind them and walking out of sight.

They walked up to the two beds they had visited most often and watched as Madam Pomfrey tucked the bed sheets around her patients with a few flicks of her wand. She smiled when she noticed Harry and Ginny and moved out from in between the two beds. She pulled another wand out of her robes and Harry realised it was his.

'Thank you for lending me this, Potter. I must say it is a very nice wand to use. What is it's core?'

'Er, Phoenix tail feather.'

Madam Pomfrey nodded her head and gave the wand one last look before holding it out for Harry to take.

'Now, just five minutes please, you two, then you can get a couple of hours sleep before you need to get up. I don't need you cluttering you my hospital wing because you collapsed through exhaustion now, do I?'

Harry smiled. 'No Madam Pomfrey. Don't worry, we won't be long.'

The nurse smiled and walked back into her office.

Ginny was already at Ron's bedside when Harry turned back towards the beds.

He looked over at Ron, who looked exactly the same as he did when he was sleeping normally. This instantly made him feel better. He looked over at Hermione and what he saw didn't give him any cause for concern. She looked as if she had found the most comfortable position to sleep in, and wasn't lying flat on her back as if she had been put in that position because that was what her carers thought best for her.

'I think they're going to be okay, Harry.'

Harry looked over at Ginny and gave her a reassuring smile.

'Me too.'

…oooOOOooo…

'How was your journey, Charles?' Dumbledore asked Mister Granger as they walked through the corridors of the school.

'Er, well, apparition takes some getting used to. Is it any better if you're the one doing it and not the one being brought along?'

'I'm afraid not, it is something you get used to after a while, but for the first few times it can be quite alarming.'

'I suppose the convenience outweighs any disadvantages.' Charles said with a smile.

'I suppose it does. Anyway, I seem to have taken us off the point somewhat.'

'I've hardly been dragging you back there though, have I? I don't want to come across as an uncaring parent, Albus, I love my daughter more than anything, but a few more minutes of not having to deal with this… well, it's very appealing. Hermione has never been able to understand that of course, she got the urgency to deal with things as soon as possible from her mother and it baffles her that I don't have the same sense of urgency to face up to reality when it's staring me in the face… Sorry, you don't need to hear this.'

Dumbledore smiled.

'On the contrary Charles, it is good to hear that flaws I see in myself are not exclusively mine. Whether we put off doing things to protect a loved one, a friend, or even ourselves, we do it because we think it is the best thing. Only time tells us whether the decision was a wise one or not.'

They turned the final corner on their journey to the hospital wing.

'However,' Dumbledore continued, 'I'm afraid, unless you wish to take a tour of the castle, your time with blissful ignorance has come to an end.'

Charles smiled. 'Indeed it has.'

His smile slipped and he looked to the hospital wing doors. They both stopped at the doors but Charles avoided looking through the small pane of glass in the door.

'How's my little girl, Albus? Is she going to be okay?'

Dumbledore gave a small smile.

'You daughter is a remarkable witch, and Ronald is a remarkable wizard. I expect them both to wake up shortly.'

He waved his wand and the doors opened.

After starting at the sudden movement of the doors Charles took a deep breath and walked forward into the hospital wing.

He walked up to Hermione's bed and stood over her, brushing the strands of hair that had been blown into her eyes by the breeze coming in through the open window.

He sat down on the chair next to her bed and took stock of what he saw before him.

She was asleep but she had, apparently, been shouting and screaming with Ron before they collapsed again, which he wasn't sure whether to take as a comfort or not, he was inclined to think it was a good thing. She looked peaceful, and she really did just look like she was sleeping off what she had been through.

'Dad?'

He hadn't heard Hermione shuffling and waking up but he watched her every movement now, as she focused her eyes and her brow furrowed in concentration.

'Hermione!' he said in a whisper, barely believing she had finally woken up.

'Dad what—? Where— What's going on?'

She started to sit up but Charles put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her moving any further.

'Lie down, Hermione. How do you feel?'

Hermione did as her dad said and lay back down on the bed. She rubbed her eyes and blinked them back into focus.

'Er, fine, I think. Dad, what's going on? Why are you here? Why am I in the hospital wing? What happened?'

Charles smiled; it was the first genuine smile he'd worn in days.

'For someone who's been unconscious for three days, had a wander around the hospital wing while still unconscious and then slept off your trauma for a further twelve hours, you have a lot of questions!'

Hermione's eyes had widened throughout her dad's explanation of her actions and lack of actions over the past few days.

'What I— _what_?'

Hermione had sat up again and looked at her dad with a shocked and confused stare on her face.

'What's the last thing you remember, Hermione?'

Instantly her brow furrowed in concentration and she looked around her, as if her surroundings might help her remember something. Her eyes fell on Ron in the bed next to her.

'Ron! What's wrong with him?'

Charles was about to answer her question but two different doors banged open at the same time. Madam Pomfrey hurried out of her office towards Hermione, and Arthur stood still in the doorway to the hospital wing, staring at Hermione. He hurried forwards and stood in between the two beds next to Charles as the School nurse waved her wand over Hermione.

'How are you feeling dear? Madam Pomfrey asked Hermione sternly.

'Er, fine. Look, will someone tell me what's going on, please? Why are Ron and I in the hospital wing and why can't I seem to remember why I'm here?'

The nurse, Arthur and Charles stared at Hermione, slightly shocked at her outburst.'

'Dad?'

The four heads turned towards the other occupant of the hospital wing.

'Ron!' Arthur exclaimed as he took a step towards his bed.

Ron sat up and rubbed his face with his hand.

'What's going on?' he mumbled through his hands.

'Are you feeling all right, son?'

'Yeah, why?' he replied, his eyes not fully open yet.

Madam Pomfrey had bustled around Hermione's bed and was now waving her wand over Ron in the same way she had over Hermione.

'So what's going— Hermione? What are you doing here?'

'I was just asking the same thing.'

Arthur and Charles looked at each other, concerned looks on their faces.

'Can neither of you remember what caused you to be in here?' Madam Pomfrey asked the two students.

Ron screwed up his eyes in concentration. 'Er, I remember feeling ill then…well, nothing. Did I pass out?'

'I remember the same,' Hermione added. 'I was upstairs, started to feel dizzy and then…nothing.'

Charles, Arthur and Poppy all looked at each other and gave each other looks to say that's what they expected.

'Well, when Auror Tonks found you in separate classrooms we immediately knew—'

Hermione and Ron stared at each other, both understanding from the other's look that they were both very confused.

'Tonks?' Ron asked confused.

'What separate classrooms?' Hermione asked immediately after Ron's question. 'How did we get from our dormitory's to the classrooms?'

'Your dormitories?' Madam Pomfrey asked, a small amount of panic obvious in her voice.

'Yeah!' Ron replied. 'We were in there getting changed, well I was anyway.'

Arthur cleared his throat.

'Ron, when was this?'

Ron looked slightly baffled at his dad's question but answered it all the same.

'After potions. Harry's half-arsed attempt at Amortentia exploded after the pillock added the wrong ingredients, and Hermione and me copped a mouthful before we knew what had happened.'

He looked at Hermione and she nodded in agreement. They both turned to look at the adults in the room.

After a few seconds of looking at three very shocked and worried looking faces they turned to each other again, still glad to see the other seemed as confused as themselves.

'What?' Ron asked slowly.

'Let me clarify, please,' Madam Pomfrey said, her voice shaking slightly. 'The last thing you both remember is feeling ill in your separate dormitories after you swallowed Mister Potter's half made Amortentia potion, yes?'

Both Ron and Hermione nodded their heads firmly.

'Dad, what's wrong?' Hermione asked her father, who hadn't said a word in the last five minutes and was getting paler by the second. 'Dad?'

Charles just stared at Hermione, his mouth opening and then closing again.

'You said something about us being unconscious for days and then seeming to wake up and then sleeping it all off, is that what the potion did to us?'

Her eyes moved from her Dad to Arthur when he didn't volunteer a response, and then on to Madam Pomfrey when Arthur didn't respond to her question. Finally when Madam Pomfrey didn't answer her, she looked at Ron, who was starting to look a little concerned.

After another thirty seconds of just waiting and watching, Arthur broke the silence.

'Ron, Hermione…what date do you think it is?'

'Well, you said we've been unconscious for three days,' Hermione answered immediately, 'so it was the sixth, so it's the ninth?' she said, asking a question in her response.

Ron nodded in agreement.

Charles seemed to relax slightly but Arthur tensed up.

'Is it the ninth?' Ron asked.

'It's the tenth,' Charles said with a smile.

'Oh! Well we were nearly right!'

'I'm sorry, _we?_' Hermione asked Ron, trying to suppress a glare but failing.

'Yes, because _that's_ important!' Ron retorted with a smirk. 'So, are we all right to leave? I feel fine!'

'Wait a minute Ron,' Arthur said calmly, 'one more question. What month do you think it is?'

Both Hermione and Ron's brows furrowed in confusion and they searched the faces of Arthur, Charles and Madam Pomfrey once more, for any clue that this was a trick question.

'Er…January,' Ron answered slowly.

Charles paled again and Madam Pomfrey sat down on the chair between the two beds.

'What?' Hermione asked, the panic in her voice obvious. 'We've told you the date, _I_ was nearly right, wasn't I?'

Charles cleared his throat once more.

'Yes, Hermione, you were nearly right, it is the tenth. However, it is not the tenth of January. It is the tenth of February.'

* * *

So, regardless of what you think if you could let me know, again you'd make me very happy. Oh, and sorry for the teeny tiny cliff hanger. In all fairness you should be used to it by now! lol

Step ;)


	25. Chapter 25

**(collapses)**

**Okay, so this was bloody hard work! I rewrote a huge part of it and I'm happier with it now. Thanks to Leviathan0999 for checking it through for me and huge hugs to my big sis, Solstice Muse for the constructive help and then wooing at the end! Always appreciated. :D**

**Epilogue has been started and shouldn't be too long, (fingers crossed). If you could, like you have many time, let me know what you think of this one, it would make me very happy. Thank you.**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 25

'_February_!' both Ron and Hermione exclaimed at the same time.

'But…what…? How…?' Hermione stammered.

'How in the name of hell is it February?' Ron said, putting Hermione's stammers into a coherent sentence.

They both turned their heads towards the three adults in the room and waited for an answer.

'But, Dad, you said we'd only been unconscious for three days, what…what happened to the rest?'

'Hermione, Ron,' Arthur said as he conjured himself a chair out of thin air, and one for Charles too, 'I just want to make sure you don't remember anything since you fainted. Are you absolutely positive there is nothing else you remember?'

Both Hermione and Ron looked at the blankets that covered them as they tried desperately to remember something, _any_ tiny detail from their apparent missing month.

After a minute Hermione sighed in frustration.

'Nothing,' she replied quietly.

'Ron, how about you?' Arthur asked.

Ron shook his head slowly and sighed in frustration. 'So, what's been going on this last month?' he asked, his tone nonchalant but the sentiment not reaching his eyes.

'Dear Merlin! I never thought I'd have to explain this to you,' Arthur said, his hand over his eyes.

He was saved any further explanation by Dumbledore walking into the room and serenely moving over to them.

'Ah! Miss Granger! Mister Weasley, so good to see you awake and in the land of the conscious! How are you both feeling?'

'Er…fine,' Ron replied.

Dumbledore turned his head towards Hermione and she glanced at him before nodding her head in agreement.

'Fine, Professor.'

'Excellent!'

'Er…not quite excellent, Albus,' Arthur said, standing to look Dumbledore in the eye.

'Oh?' Dumbledore asked, his face still smiling in a curious manner.

Arthur stepped round the Headmaster and spoke to him in a hushed tone. Dumbledore's smile slipped slightly, and he looked at Arthur, surprised. But then a wry smile covered his face and Arthur looked curious. Dumbledore took a step towards Hermione and Ron's beds and looked at Ron, then Hermione before speaking.

'Well, it seems the two of you have become quite forgetful since you took a walk in the middle of the night. I hear that was something to behold, unfortunately I wasn't witness to it, you shall have to ask Madam Pomfrey or Harry and Ginny for details on that, but before that I think you'd like a few more details filling in. I shall give you the bare bones, but, again, Harry and Ginny will probably be better suited to fill you in more clearly.'

Ron and Hermione stayed silent, waiting for news of the past month they couldn't remember.

'Well Hermione, Ron, over the past month the two of you have been quite inseparable!'

…oooOOOooo…

'Oh this is ridiculous!' Ginny exclaimed to the closed hospital wing door.

Harry couldn't help but giggle at Ginny's lack of success in peering in the hospital wing door.

'Why is the window that high anyway? Only lanky sods like Ron can see in, although even he'd have to be on tip toe! Oh! I know!'

She took the three steps needed to be close enough to Harry to grab his robes and pull him towards her.

'Down on one knee, Harry.'

Harry's eyebrows disappeared into the small part of his fringe, which was laying flat.

'Er, _why?_'

He ignored the leap his stomach had just made into his throat.

Ginny sighed and tutted loudly, obviously annoyed Harry hadn't cottoned onto her plan instantly.

'If you're down on one knee I can stand on your leg and see in the window. Come on!'

'Er, no!'

It was Ginny's turn to lose her eyebrows in her fringe.

'Why not?'

'Because…I…you…'

'Be very careful, Potter, very careful!'

Harry sighed and decided the easiest and safest way forward was to do as Ginny asked. He knelt down on his left knee and put his hand against the wall behind him to steady himself.

Ginny looked at him with a smug look on her face and was about to step forward when the door opened and Arthur, Charles and Dumbledore all filed out the hospital wing.

They stopped and stared at Harry down on one knee in front of Ginny.

Harry went pale and his eyes widened.

'I'm sorry Harry, we didn't mean to disturb anything!' Dumbledore said with a grin.

The colour came back to Harry's cheeks in full force and he scrambled off the floor. Ginny was trying hard to suppress body shaking laughter.

'You weren't professor,' Harry mumbled, not looking at any of the three men in front of him. '_Ginevra_, wanted to see inside the hospital wing so I was about to be of help!'

Ginny's smile turned into a sharp glare from Harry for using her full name and mentioning she was trying to be nosey.

'Ah, I see,' Dumbledore said slowly, drawing out Harry's embarrassment as long as possible. 'Well, _Ginny_, you'll be glad to hear you no longer have to resort to peering through windows. You are both allowed to go and fill Ron and Hermione in on everything they have been doing for the past month, they seem to have forgotten everything since the first time they collapsed. We thought you two would be the best people to help them fill in their missing month.'

Both Harry and Ginny's jaws had dropped.

'They…they can't remember anything since they collapsed in their rooms?' Harry asked.

'Not a thing Harry,' Arthur said.

'How about things that weren't directly involved with their connection, like their school work?' Harry asked.

Dumbledore smiled. 'Absolutely nothing, Harry. Hermione was rather alarmed when she realised she had forgotten a months lessons as I'm sure you can imagine, but as I told her, I'm sure they will both be able to catch up, they still have their own notes after all.'

'Oh, I'll bet that calmed Hermione right down!' Ginny said, the sarcasm obvious in her tone.

Charles chuckled. 'It has to be said I've never seen her go so pale so quickly without it being instigated by illness. It was rather alarming for a second!'

Harry laughed. 'How long have we got, sir?' he asked Dumbledore.

'Oh I think Poppy will give you a reasonable time with them. They aren't suffering any ill effects from their latest ordeal so I doubt Madam Pomfrey will demand they sleep after ten minutes of talking.'

Harry nodded.

'We shall leave you to it then. Arthur, Charles, would you care for a drink?'

Harry and Ginny watched as the three men walked down the corridor out of sight.

'Well,' Harry started, turning to face Ginny, 'this isn't what I expected!'

'Me neither!' Ginny replied.

Harry tried to take his mind back to a month ago, his eyes widened.

'Oh Merlin!' he exclaimed in a sigh.

'What?' Ginny asked, puzzled.

'I'm just remembering how they were a month ago.'

Ginny's eyes widened as she realised what Harry meant.

'Constantly arguing.'

'Constantly trying to get one over the other.'

'Long periods of silence.'

They both thought for a few seconds and then made a realisation at the same time. As if reading the other's mind they said one word at the same time.

'_Lavender!_'

…oooOOOooo…

'So how are you both feeling?' Ginny asked Ron and Hermione.

'Fine,' Ron mumbled in response.

'Hermione?' Harry asked quietly, having noticed Hermione hadn't acknowledged the question.

Hermione shrugged. 'Not sure really, I don't like the fact that I have no recollection of anything I've done over the last month, but apparently, it's nothing to worry about and seems to be quite acceptable to both Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, so really, what have I got to complain about?'

Harry noticed the bitterness in her voice. He knew how much Hermione would hate this. Hermione Granger not knowing something…well, it was out of place at the very least and he knew how much it would be annoying her to not remember a whole month of her life.

'I can't believe all the work I've missed. I'm going to be so far behind.'

Ron snorted. 'Hermione, it'll take all of a day for you to catch up. I think it's me that should be worrying about schoolwork!'

'Oh stop being so dramatic, the pair of you!' said Ginny. 'Harry will help you both and you'll catch up in no time.'

'We can't catch up on everything else though, can we?' Ron mumbled as he fiddled with the blanket covering the lower half of his bed.

'Well, not everything, but that's why we're here,' Ginny said in a cheerful tone, trying to lift the moods of her friend and her brother. 'We can fill you in on stuff that isn't orientated around lessons. So, come on, we're ready for the barrage of questions, aren't we Harry?'

'What? Oh, yeah, fire away.'

'Nothing horrendous has happened outside school, has it?' Hermione asked, at the same time Ron asked, 'How are the Canon's doing in the league?'

'Er, right,' Ginny said before thinking. 'Harry you take Hermione's question, I'll take Ron's.'

She walked around Ron's bed and sat on the chair. Harry watched her and then did the same but next to Hermione's bed.

Hermione turned towards Harry and away from Ron. She wasn't sure why but she didn't really want Ron listening to the conversation she desperately wanted to have with Harry.

She listened to Ginny chatter on with Ron about the Quidditch league and then Harry cleared his throat.

'Well, nothing major's happened, just the usual, the odd disappearance, the odd death, a couple of muggles were killed last week.'

Hermione smiled sadly. 'It's a sad state of affairs when disappearances and deaths are the norm, isn't it?'

'I think what's sadder is that we're used to it by now.' Harry shook his head, as if trying to force the subject out of his mind. 'Anyway, surely there are more things about you and Ron that you want to know about?'

'Well, yes, I suppose. I'm just finding hard to come to terms with this whole thing. We were definitely inseparable then? We couldn't leave the other's company?'

'Not without falling unconscious you couldn't. Later on, when the connection got stronger, if one of you fell unconscious like the time Ron was hit in the head by a Bludger in Quidditch practice and got knocked out, you only lasted a few seconds before you blacked out too. You should have heard Madam Pomfrey when she found out.'

Hermione was shocked by what she had just heard. Harry read her facial expressions and carried on.

'But then it got even stronger. If one of you fell asleep then the other would at exactly the same time. I'll not forget you telling me Ron fell asleep on the toilet because you'd fallen asleep in bed!'

Hermione couldn't help but smile at that announcement, but it soon faded.

'What's wrong, Hermione?' Harry asked quietly.

Hermione sighed. 'I don't know really, I suppose I should be grateful, we could have had some serious side effects from the potion, in all fairness we could have died, but all that happened was a month's worth of memory loss.'

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 'Er, look, Hermione, about that, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to—'

'Oh shush, Harry, you made a mistake, we all do it,' she said with a wave of her hand.

Harry grinned. 'Is this Hermione Granger admitting she's made mistakes?'

Hermione's sad smile returned. 'More than I'd like to admit.'

Her head turned towards Ron a fraction, subconsciously it seemed. Harry was about to say something but Hermione cut him off.

'How did we not kill each other, Harry?' she asked with a small smile? 'Things have hardly been normal between us.'

'Well, no, they weren't, and for a few days you were hardly speaking, I'm not sure of the details, but I think Ron had put his foot in it and said something he didn't mean. You were quiet and distant for a while, but one night you went up to your room and the next morning came down and were fine, more than fine, you were friends again.'

'Oh, okay.'

'I think things must have come to a head or something, because I'd never seen you that angry at Ron, and he was hardly happy either, I think things had to get really bad before you were forced to talk to each other and work whatever it was out. As I said, I don't know what happened exactly, but things were better after that.'

'How better? I mean, were we friends, or…were there other…side effects?'

She felt the blush creep up her neck and onto her cheeks and she was grateful that Harry made no point of the fact.

Harry cleared his throat and made sure Ron and Ginny were in deep conversation before answering.

'You were…close, Hermione. I'm not gonna lie to make you feel better, for my safety more than anything else, you'd hex me to within an inch of my life if you found out I'd lied to you,' he grinned and Hermione gave a reluctant smile, 'but, yeah, I can't really explain it, but because of the connection you had, you knew what the other needed and how they felt. You could read each other's emotions and that made things better between you.'

He watched as Hermione's face went from shocked through to bewildered and then back to sad as she realised what she had missed, or at least couldn't remember.

'I'm sorry, Hermione,' Harry said quietly.

'What for Harry?' Hermione asked. She tried to keep her tone quizzical, but the wobble in her voice, which she attempted to cover with a cough, was obvious. 'I can't remember any of it,' she continued, her voice stronger, 'therefore I have lost nothing.'

Harry nodded.

'So, what have I missed in lessons?' Hermione asked.

Harry knew the subject of her and Ron was now closed. Hermione would deal with it on her own, in her own way.

Whether the subject was ever breached with Ron was yet to be seen.

---

'What do you mean I've been nicer to be around lately?' Ron asked his sister with an outraged look on his face.

'Oh calm down!' Ginny retorted. 'All I meant was that Hermione's rubbed off on you, you are—_were_ calmer for a start and you just seemed to take stock of everything before saying things. You and Hermione got on like a house on fire once you'd got over whatever it was that made you unbelievably mad at each other. You were both so in tune with each other it was…bizarre but in a good way.'

'Sounds like I lost all the things that makes me, me and you liked it better!'

'Don't you dare try and twist what I just said, Ron! You're my brother and as much as I sometimes lose all understanding as to why I love you, I do, that's why I'm telling you this. You were happy when you were with Hermione, Ron. I know you don't remember anything that happened, but once you'd dropped Lavender, you—'

'_What?_' Ron exclaimed, a little too loudly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'A couple of weeks ago, you broke up with Lavender.'

'Why?' Ron asked, the look of shock still on his face.

'I think the way she treated Hermione _finally_ started to upset you, and by that time you could see and feel how it upset and bothered her, so you did the right thing and ditched the overdramatic wench!'

Ron dropped his gaze to the blanket and balled it up in his fists.

'But I like Lavender!' he protested weakly.

'Is she worth more to you than Hermione's friendship? 'Cause it nearly cost you that once before, are you going to let that happen again.'

'Will you stop pounding me with all this emotional crap, Gin? What's it to you if Hermione and me aren't on speaking terms? Why do you care if I'm going out with Lavender or not?'

Ginny turned the famous Weasley red and had to take a couple of deep breaths before leaning in closer to Ron to get her point across.

'As I said Ron, I don't know why, but I care about you and I care about Hermione too, if you're too stubborn to see what's good for you then fine!'

She stood and looked over at Harry. He saw the look on her face and decided it was probably better if they left.

'Well,' Harry said as he stood up, 'I dunno when you'll be let out of here, but when you are, come and find me, okay?'

'Like we'd do anything else, Harry,' Hermione said with a smile.

'Yeah, you can't get rid of us, you know. You should have figured that out by now mate,' Ron said with a smirk.

'Don't I know it. See you both later.'

…oooOOOooo…

'So, it seems things…were a bit…strange this past month,' Ron said to Hermione, who was lying on her back staring at the ceiling.

They had been told they were to spend one more night in the hospital wing and in the morning they could go back to the main school and back to their dormitories. The two of them, of course, didn't know of anywhere else they could go.

'Apparently!' Hermione replied.

'But, I suppose things are back to normal, for us anyway, not that we know of anything different, so things are just, normal!'

'Yeah,' Hermione replied with a sigh. 'Look, Ron, I know…things…have seemingly happened…between us,' she again, tried to ignore the blush she knew was making its way up her neck and to her cheeks, 'but considering we don't remember them, I think we should just, try and forget what we've been told. If our memories come back then, well, I suppose we'll deal with that as it happens. But there's no point speculating over something that only we knew completely and therefore won't ever get the full facts off anyone else.' She glanced at Ron. 'What do you think?'

'Yeah, that makes sense. There's no point trying to build on something when we don't know what we're building on, is there? So…yeah, back to the way things were.'

'Exactly how things were?' Ron asked quietly.

'Well, yes,' Hermione replied looking a little puzzled.

'Oh, okay.'

Ron lay down on his bed his stomach squirming slightly. He replayed what Ginny had said to him in his head and then he thought about what Hermione had just said. She wanted to go back to they way they remember being. As far as Ron could remember, they were bickering constantly when they were talking, not that they spoke to each other that often. Well, if Hermione didn't care that much about him, then why should he care about what she might feel for him.

If she wanted to go back to how things were before, then that's what would happen.

…oooOOOooo…

Hermione and Ron woke up the next morning when Madam Pomfrey informed them it was time for them to rejoin the main school. They dressed and piled their things neatly onto their beds, ready for the house elves to take them up to their rooms.

Madam Pomfrey had asked them to stay for a few minutes before they left for breakfast so she could schedule a check up for each of them in a few days time.

As they were about to walk to her office, one of the doors to the wing opened. They both looked up at the doors and saw Lavender Brown step through them almost timidly.

'Lavender!' Ron exclaimed.

Hermione looked shocked but quickly changed her facial expression to indifference.

'Do you have a minute?' Lavender asked Ron.

'Actually Lavender,' Hermione said before Ron had a chance to answer, 'we're due to see Madam Pomfrey and then we have to get our things ready for the day.'

'Oh, right, well, I'll come back later then.'

'Hang on!' Ron said, grabbing Lavender's elbow as she turned away from him. When she stopped to see what he had to say he turned to Hermione and glared at her. 'There's nothing stopping you going, we're not inseparable anymore!'

Hermione reddened. 'Well I just thought it would be easier for Madam Pomfrey if we sorted out our appointments together, but if you want to make her life that little bit more complicated then fine!'

Hermione pushed past Ron and knocked on the door to the Nurse's office, after a second Madam Pomfrey opened the door to let Hermione in, and raised an eyebrow at Ron before closing the door.

'Sorry about that,' Ron mumbled.

Lavender smiled sweetly. 'That's all right. I was just wondering how you were. I wasn't allowed to see you when you were unconscious, only Harry and Ginny had permission. That's how I knew it was really serious. I was really worried.'

'Well, I don't remember anything, so you'll have to ask them for the details.'

'Well, I don't think that'll happen, I'm hardly their favourite person.'

It was something in her tone that made Ron stop and look at her properly. He was astonished when he saw tears in her eyes.

'Wait, have they said anything to you?'

'What? Oh, no nothing,' she replied half-heartedly. 'It's just been a long time since I've seen you properly; I've missed you, Ron. Have you missed me? Oh, no, wait, you don't remember anything do you? As far as you're concerned we're, well, you don't remember breaking up, do you?'

Ron went red and shifted his weight to his other foot. He glanced at Lavender before dropping his gaze back down to his school shoes.

'Er…no…'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.' She shuffled closer to Ron. 'I don't blame you for doing it, you know. When…_it_ happened, I got the impression you weren't very happy about it. Like you were doing it to keep the peace.'

'Keep the peace?' Ron exclaimed. 'With who?'

Lavenders eyes jumped to Madam Pomfrey's office before looking back at Ron.

Ron turned his head to the office and then back to Lavender.

'You think…you think Hermione bullied me into it?' Ron asked, confusion filling his face.

''Well, maybe _bullied_ is a bit strong, but I have a feeling she may have put a bit of pressure on you to do it. Of course at the time I didn't realise, but after, when I'd calmed down enough to really think about what happened,' she glanced at Ron before looking over his shoulder, 'I realised there was something in the way you were talking to me that I missed the first time, it was like you were trying to tell me that you didn't mean what you were saying. But, then again, I might be wrong. I was upset for a while…'

Ron shifted his weight onto his other foot and took half a step towards Lavender.

'I'm sorry if I upset you,' Ron said, his voice barely above a whisper.

'Well…I don't think you wanted to…but…' she put her hand on Ron's arm and gave it a little squeeze.

'Look Lavender, I—'

The door to Madam Pomfrey's office banged shut. Lavender and Ron jumped apart and looked at Hermione.

'No no, don't let me disturb you,' Hermione snapped. 'Madam Pomfrey is ready for you Ron, don't keep her waiting, that would be rude after all.'

She stalked past Ron and Lavender.

Ron glared at her as she left the hospital wing.

'You were saying?' Lavender prompted Ron.

'What? Oh, yeah…'

He watched the doors swing back and forth and came to a decision.

'Lavender, considering I don't remember us breaking up and I don't know the reasons why it happened either, do you want to…I mean, only if you're…well, not upset by anything…do you want to, go back out with me?'

A smile spread across Lavender's face and she put her hand back on Ron's arm.

'I'd like that,' she replied.

'Oh, okay, cool!'

Lavender took no time in attaching herself to Ron, and they spent the next minute in one of their vertical wrestling matches.

The sound of the door slamming shut made them jump apart.

'Well, I see Miss Brown has taken no time in making sure you aren't damaged from your escapades Mister Weasley. Seeing as though you have reassured yourself _thoroughly_, Miss Brown, I suggest you wait for Mister Weasley downstairs.'

Lavender hastily left the hospital wing, leaving Ron alone with the nurse.

'Well, Mister Weasley, according to Miss Granger, you are free first thing on Thursday morning, would you be able to come for your check up during first lesson?'

'Er, yeah, that's fine,'

'Good, well you are free to go, and I don't want to see you in here before Thursday morning, understand? You've seen too much of this hospital wing.'

'Don't worry, I don't intend to be back here again for any other reason than my check up.

Madam Pomfrey nodded.

Ron turned and left the hospital wing.

'You may not intend to be here, Weasley, lets just hope no one else sends you here on purpose!'

…oooOOOooo…

'So, are things' Harry made air quotes with his hands '_normal_ between you two now?'

'Define normal, Harry?' Hermione asked before eating her next mouthful of cereal.

'Well, friends?'

Hermione didn't answer him. She carried on eating her cereal for a couple of minutes before turning her attention to Harry.

'I don't know what you're expecting me to say Harry. To me…yesterday I was annoyed at Ron because, well, I just was and I was annoyed at you for exploding your potion all over me. Ron…' she sighed, unsure as to what she wanted to say about Ron, 'well, he's—'

'Hi,' Ron said as he walked behind Hermione and gave a wave in their general direction before he went down the table and sat next to Lavender.

Hermione sighed. 'Just being Ron.'

She glanced down the table and caught Ron's eye for a second before looking resolutely into the milk in her cereal bowl.

She thought about herself and she thought about Ron and some things that had happened over their five and a bit years of knowing each other.

_He's just being Ron_. The words rattled around in her head.

When Ron was being Ron he stood in front of Malfoy for her.

When Ron was being Ron he made her cry when he imitated her.

When Ron was being Ron he stood in front of his best friend and declared he would have to be killed first to get to him.

When Ron was being Ron he kissed Lavender Brown instead of going to a party with her.

When Ron was being Ron, he was the best friend in the world.


	26. Epilogue

Epilogue

"_Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white-faced, up to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened, she had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny's obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside them, clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed in to see him."  
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Chapter 19 – Elf Tails._

---

He was just lying there in front of her, looking pale and not like Ron at all. His vivid hair was making his skin look paler still. She wanted to straighten his fringe, but she resisted, she didn't want to disturb him.

She was on her own, except Ron of course. Harry and Ginny had gone to get a drink and the Twins had gone back to their shop for an hour, promising they would be back later.

She placed her hand on his and gave it a small squeeze, hoping for some kind of sign that Ron was coming out of his unconsciousness. There wasn't one.

She stroked her thumb over the back of his hand and shifted her weight so she could lean forward. She arranged herself so she could rest on the bed but still keep a hold of Ron's hand.

As soon as she closed her eyes images filled her mind. She of course, hadn't seen Ron as he was being poisoned, but she saw it in her head and wondered what she would have done if it had been her and not Harry with him. She shuddered. She wasn't sure if she would have kept her head and been able to think of what to do and how to save Ron. By all accounts he should be dead, he drank a lethal dose of poison after all. Would she have been able to save him?

Subconsciously she gripped his hand tighter and tried to rid her mind of images and thoughts. She imagined her calm place, blue sky, green grass, a warm breeze blowing all her troubles away. She walked through the field. The grass between her toes was warm, heated by the sun.

She barely noticed the pressure increase around her hand because she was so peaceful how she was, in her calm place, her troubles and fears a world away.

She turned around and noticed the sun was hiding behind the horizon, was it setting or rising? She had seen a sunset before, many times, but she had only seen a sunrise once, though she couldn't quite remember when or where.

She looked to the right and was surprised to see a figure sitting on the grass looking at the horizon. His legs were crossed and he had his head in his hands, leaning on his knees. There wasn't much light but she could tell his hair was red and she knew exactly who it was.

She walked over to him and sat next to him on the grass.

'Hi,' he said with a genuine smile.

'Hi,' she replied. 'How long have you been here?'

'A while, I'm not sure why I'm here but I am. Do you know why.'

'Yeah, I do. You're not well Ron.'

'I'm not?'

'No.'

'Oh, okay. So, are you not well either, if you're here too?'

'No, I'm fine. I'm making sure you're okay.'

'Oh, thanks.'

He turned and looked at her before looking back at the sunrise.

'This is the second sunrise you've seen.'

'It is, or it will be, when it does,' she replied with a smile.

'I've been remembering things that we've done, but I don't understand because I didn't remember them before I arrived here.'

'No, I didn't either. It was like when I arrived things started to come into my head. I knew they were things I'd done, things that we'd done, but I didn't know when or where. It doesn't make sense.'

'Well, I've had longer to think about it than you have so I have a theory. Do you want to hear it?'

'I do!'

'Well, that thing that happened which we can't remember anything about, well, we were told it was a connection on lots of different levels, so chances are it went quite deep into our subconscious, which I think is where we are now, but, if this is my subconscious then you won't remember this anyway, because it's just me and my thoughts.'

'I think we are sharing this, Ron.'

'What makes you say that?'

'Well, we shared our dreams, didn't we, before, and when we were really ill, we interacted with each other before we…before our connection broke didn't we?'

'Yeah, I suppose, so that's why we can remember stuff here but not when we're awake. Which is really annoying when you think about it.'

He grinned and she smiled at him.

He turned his head to the horizon.

'Damn! We've missed it!'

Hermione turned her head and looked at the horizon line. Sure enough the sun had already appeared.

'Ah well, we've seen a sunrise together before haven't we?'

'Not that we remember!'

They laughed. Ron shuffled round so he was facing Hermione more and she did the same.

'You know, I've had another thought.'

'Oh? What is it?'

'Well, if we talk about things that we remember here, then maybe there's more chance of us remembering some of them when we wake up.'

She thought for a second. 'It might work,' she replied. 'And maybe if we think of things that we remember the most clearly then they're more likely to stick.'

'Yeah,' Ron agreed.

They looked at each other and then down at the grass.

'I did want to, you know,' Ron said quietly.

'You did want to what?'

Ron cleared his throat. 'Okay, if you remember this can you pretend I didn't blush and stumble over my words?'

'But you aren't blushing and aren't stumbling over your words,' she said, puzzled by his statement.

'No, but I have a feeling I'm about to do both,' he said with a grin.

She giggled. 'Okay, I promise, if I remember this, I'll pretend you didn't blush and didn't stumble over your words.'

'Thanks,' he replied sheepishly. 'Well, as I was saying, I did want to, kiss you. You said, you wanted our…er…our first kiss, where we actually had to think about doing it and consciously made the decision to do it, to be because we wanted to. Well, even before you said that, I wanted to, I just wasn't sure if you wanted to, that's why I said that we should do it because we had to.'

'Oh, well…' she thought for a second before looking at him in the eye. 'You didn't stumble over your words.'

'No, but I know I've gone red!'

They laughed. 'I'll be sure to pretend you didn't. And, I did too, before we said anything, I was just more vocal about what I wanted than you!'

'Weren't you just!' he teased. 'It's a bit sad, isn't it? We had our first kiss but we can't remember it.'

'Yeah it is, although Ginny told me what happened.'

'Harry told me too. Hardly the same though, is it?'

'No, it's not.'

They both looked at each other, the sun rising slowly and the grass around them and then back at each other.

She felt the breeze pick up and it started to push her away from Ron, she knew it was time for her to leave.

'It's time for me to go, Ron.'

'What? Why? I don't want you to.'

'I know but I don't belong here, really. Neither do you. You have to get better and come back to us in the land of the living.'

'But I've got stuff I want to say to you.'

'So say it.'

'But…I…'

'Ron, chances are I won't remember this anyway, so it doesn't really matter.'

'But what if you, _we,__do_ remember something. I've thought about everything we did, everything we went through, the ways we changed as people and we lost all of that, Hermione, it's wrong. The way we are with each other is wrong, we shouldn't be ignoring each other, we should be happy, we should be talking and bickering like is normal for us!'

'Ron, I've been doing but nothing but thinking today. After what happened to you, I decided to put our stupid differences aside. There are far more serious things going on to worry about than the disagreements we have, getting annoyed at ourselves and each other for not saying things we both wanted to and just wasting energy on insignificant…_stuff_! When you wake up things will be different, regardless of whether we remember any of this, things will definitely be different.'

The breeze was stronger now, reminding her she needed to leave.

'Promise?' Ron said only managing a half-smile.

'I promise.'

She thought for a second before stepping up to Ron and kissing him lightly on the lips. 'Now you can be sure I wanted to, too.'

He smile cheekily at her, but her small smile faded.

'Don't stay here too long, Ron. We need you back with us, all of us do. Don't keep us waiting.'

'But, you will wait for me, won't you?'

'Always.'

She turned and walked away from him. The sky slowly turned to black and the grass became cold under her feet.

She opened her eyes and instinctively gripped Ron's hand. She smiled when she felt him squeeze her hand back.

Her head was fuzzy; there were too many thoughts in there. She tried to separate them, sorting the dreams from the reality. She was slightly confused; some didn't seem to be either and some a mixture of both, but as with most dreams the more she tried to remember the quicker they faded.

She smiled, she had dreamed of Ron, they had talked, but she wasn't sure about what, but it was a happy feeling that filled her and made her feel calm and relaxed.

He was going to be okay and that was all that mattered.

…oooOOOooo…

Yes, he liked it here, wherever he was, but he liked it better when Hermione was here. He didn't like being on his own. Growing up with a family as big as his, it just seemed unnatural to be on your own for too long.

He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew he wasn't going to be here much longer. He felt ready to leave, whereas before he liked the comfort and sanctuary he had found here. He lay down on the grass and looked at the stars. He found patterns in them and after a while closed his eyes.

Yes, he would leave here soon, but not quite yet. But when he did leave, things would be different. Life was too short to ruin friendships with bitterness and misunderstanding. Hermione had promised him that things would be different and he would keep that promise too.

He closed his eyes and dreamed. Wherever he went in his mind there was always one person with him. Always. Wherever he was, she would be there.

_"Er-my-nee." _

_  
.fin.  
_

* * *

**And so it ends. ::sniff:: At one point I wasn't sure I'd get here it was taking me that long to get chapters out, but I thank you all for staying with me through it. You seem to have enjoyed it and thanks for letting me know. We're on over 400 reviews for this fic now and I'm well chuffed about that. Considering I started this story as something to keep my muse occupied when she was bored with 'Heartfelt Dream' it's gone on for a lot longer than I thought!**

**Thank you to each and every one of you who reviewed and encouraged along the way, constructive critisism and excessive squeeing is always appreciated :D**

**Special thanks to Solstice Muse, Leviathan0999 and Bluebell Field for their thoughts, betaing and ancouragement from start to finish. ::hugs::**

**Er, think that's it really. New stuff, well considering how much I enjoyed writing the trio in sixth year I'm going to be doing a bit more of it, taking snippets out of HBP and writing them from Hermione's point of view and there's something else I'm working on which shouldn't be too long up, and, you know, putting me on alerts would stop you missing both ::lol:: ;)**

**If you could just do me one more favour and review one last time it would make me very happy indeedy.**

**Ta muchly,**

**Step ;)**


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